Techno-Organic Synthesis
by Rapidfyrez
Summary: The first Kaiju hit San Francisco. It took three days to take it down. Six months later another hit Tokyo. Then a third and a fourth. We quickly realized they weren't going to stop. So to stop the monsters... We built the Jaegars. Now the Transformers help us in our battle, piloting their own, but their numbers are few. Soon Human and machine, will drift together to face the threat
1. Prologue

Prologue

In the year 2007 Humanity made first contact with the alien race known as the Cybertronians. The Cybertronians were an advanced synthetic race who's planet had been ravaged by centuries of civil war, forcing the two factions to abandon their home.

The larger of the factions, the Decepticons, were a group who believed in the survival of the fittest. The soldiers who served in their army were powerful and ambitious, willing to step over any and all who got in their way. They were lead by the gladiator turned revolutionary, Megatron.

The other faction and the one that formed an alliance with the United States of America, were the Autobots. The Autobots believed that all sentient beings were free to make their own choices with no one telling them how to live their lives. They were lead by Optimus Prime, last of the Primes, chosen by their creator Primus to lead the Cybertronians.

The Autobots engaged Megatron's forces on Earth in a large scale battle that ended in the warlords retreat. After the battle, the warlord vanished, leaving his Second-in-Command Starscream in charge of his massive warship, the Nemesis.

The cons remained relatively hidden after that with the Autobots patrolling Earth and her cities for any con activity. They themselves were located in a large missile silo hidden near Jasper Nevada. That was, until 2013, when humanity encountered another alien race.

A dimensional rift opened in the pacific ocean releasing a massive monster over thirty stories high. The monster attacked San Francisco killing millions and devastating the city. With the help of the Autobots, the monster was killed after three long days of fighting.

The attack scarred humanity, but they moved on, rebuilt what was lost, and left the past in the past. Then, six months later, another monster attack Tokyo, and again was eventually taken down. Then another emerged causing more destruction. And another.

The attack after that, was devastating, one of the monsters, now labeled Kaiju, managed to break through the coastal defenses of San Diego, and made its way inland. Despite the efforts of both the Autobots and the human military, the Kaiju was too big and too durable for conventional weapons to harm it.

It was only when the Decepticons, lead by Starscream assisted them was the monster finally put down, but not before the Autobot headquarters and Jasper Nevada were destroyed. After the battle, it was decided that a new weapon, a new alliance had to be formed, and so it was that the leaders of the world, and the leaders of the Cybertronians would meet, to discuss how to survive the continued attacks of the Kaiju…

_UN Headquarters, 2015…_

Every UN representative of every nation, represented by the President of the US stood outside the headquarters, waiting to meet the leaders of the last two factions. It was a cold winters day, and the sky was overcast. More than likely it would snow but that was the least of everyone's worries.

A large green portal swirled to life and the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. Slowly the massive red and blue figure of Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots emerged from the ground bridge, a device that allowed instantaneous travel across the world, and stood before the assembled representatives. The reps themselves stared at him in awe, most having only recently heard of the bot.

"Representatives of humanity, I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," Prime's deep voice echoed over the assembled group. It was a voice that hid both great pain and sadness and spoke of eons of knowledge "It is a pleasure to finally meet you all face to face,"

"Its… a pleasure to meet you as well Optimus," the president said "But where is the Decepticon leader?" he asked.

"I arrive when I feel like arriving, _human,_" a slick voice said. the reps turned to see a tall slim built mech with large wings and red optics walking towards them.

"It is good to see you accepted our invitation, Starscream," Optimus said.

"Yes well, the destruction of our races would not be beneficial to either of our causes, now would it?" he said sarcastically.

The president cleared his throat "Well, it is appreciated that you arrived, as was your assistance in bringing down that Kaiju," he said.

Starscream regarded the human with an annoyed look "Yes well, hopefully you have managed to come up with a better way to combat these monstrosities, as my forces were hit hard by that last attack. And mark my words, if another attacks like that, then our forces may not be able to stop it," the seeker warned.

The president looked directly at the con in silence before he finally spoke "If you'll follow me," he said and motioned for everyone to follow him. The president lead them to a large plain building across the headquarters. It was large enough to allow even Optimus entry into the building.

Everyone entered and gaped at what they saw. Monitors and technicians were spread everywhere working on pieces of what appeared to be advanced cybernetic technology. However, there didn't seem to be a reason why.

Optimus voiced this thought "Mr. President, while this setup is impressive, I do not understand what we are seeing,"

"What you are seeing," the politician said "Is the beginning of our weapons against these monsters. The Kaiju have been attacking and destroying our cities for two years now, but no more, for now we shall be the hunters. This, is the Jaeger program,"

_Five years later…_

Jaeger, in German it means hunter. Kaiju means monster, so in order to kill a monster, a hunter must be created. The Jaeger program was a program designed with the help of the Cybertronians to create massive machines to fight off the Kaiju. Unfortunately the strain of piloting a single Jaeger was too much for a single Cybertronian or human to bare, so a two pilot system was created.

By using a neural net, the two pilots would drift together, thoughts and memories becoming one. This allowed the pilots to control one half of each body in sync. The better two pilots could drift, the better their fighting.

Both Cybertronian and human Jaegers were designed. The Cybertronian ones were large, thickly armored, slow, and expensive. They guarded the most important cities in the world. The human Jaegers, were smaller, faster and cheaper to build, but at the cost of being easier to damage. They could be deployed far quicker to different parts of the world, where Kaiju attacks could occur.

At first, the Jaegers were winning, stemming the tide of Kaiju through the breach. They became heroes, celebrities, the Autobots and Decepticons alike were adored by human kind. Eventually, the people forgot about the danger, the pain the Kaiju had caused, believing that their metal guardians would be unbeatable.

And then the breach widened…

**A/N: Props to my follower Rex Blazer for the idea, and for those wandering, I'll mainly work on this story when Elhini is not available to work on the crossover so mostly during the week. If you guys have questions or suggestions for this story let me know! Bye!**


	2. Chapter 1: Category 3

Chapter 1: Category Three

_Jaeger Headquarters, San Diego, California…_

It was a dark, stormy night at the headquarters, rain and wind pounding relentlessly on the large form of the Jaeger headquarters in San Diego. It was one of 10 located worldwide, each one at a major port.

There was one in San Diego, one in Alaska, one near Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Sydney, Normandy, New York, the Philippines, and Cape Town. There were several smaller ones as well, but those main ten contained the bulk of the Jaeger defense force, both Cybertronian and human.

The base itself consisted of a large central platform that stretched over 6 miles in diameter, a massive size. Lights dotted the structure, lighting it up like a large undersea creature. The center contained a large dome, and the central platform stretched out into several smaller domes, each one able to hold 5 Jaegers. There were a total of 6 of these domes holding 30 Jaegers. In the center dome was the single Cybertronian Jaeger assigned to the US.

Cybertronian Jaegers were assigned to one continent each, as their size and rarity of Cybertronian pilots made them too expensive to use. The Jaegers themselves were set on a rotation cycle to rotate to a new base every six months in order to allow a change in defensive tactics, so that the Kaiju wouldn't adapt to them as quickly. The average Kaiju attack was roughly once per month, at any possible location, but focused mostly on populated areas.

The current Cybertronian Jaeger team was the famous duo Arcee and Cliffjumper, pilots of the Jaeger, Iacon Strike. This Jaeger team was famous for their harrowing defense of Sydney during the very first Category 3 Kaiju assault against the city.

No one had encountered a category three yet, so the idea of fighting one in a Jaeger that was unprepared, even a Cybertronian one, was unheard of. Despite this, the duo had held firm against the Kaiju and in the end decimated it. The two had been praised as heroes, even given a chance to be reassigned to a more remote location away from the Kaiju to be given time to recover.

The two had rejected the offer, claiming that the defense of the cities was too important for their individual comfort. They tried staying out of the lime light, but that had only made it worse, and whether they wanted it or not, the two were celebrities, inspirations to humans and Cybertronians alike.

At this hour though, most of the Jaeger teams were either asleep or in recharge. After all, even heroes and celebrities needed sleep. The central hub though, located in the central dome, was a flurry of activity.

Holographic screens were set up in rows like computer desks, larger screens plastered against the wall. A large window was open to the _massive_ hangar below that contained the Jaeger of Team Iacon Strike.

An African American man with broad shoulders and a well trimmed frame stood overlooking the entire operation with an air of calm about him. On the inside though, he was frantically thinking of how best to handle the situation. A Kaiju signature had just come in, and they had yet to categorize it.

"Commander Fowler Sir," his assistant, Vic McCoy said gaining his attention. "We managed to categorize it," he said.

"And?" the commander asked.

"Well…sir, it's a category three," he said nervously. The base fell into utter silence at this revelation. There hadn't been an attack by a category three since Sydney.

Fowler looked at him. "Ready the Jaegers and wake Team Iacon Strike," he ordered.

"Right away sir," his assistant responded, scurrying off to prepare the teams.

Fowler raised a hand to his com. "Ratchet, its Fowler. Is Iacon Strike ready for action?" he asked.

"_Ep, ep, ep,"_ was the medic turned mechanic's response. _"You cannot rush these things Fowler. The damage to Iacon Strike will be repaired in due time,"_ Ratchet responded.

"Well skip the spinning wheels Doc; we got a category three incoming as we speak," he said.

There was a pause over the com. _"5 minutes,"_ was the only response Ratchet gave. Fowler sighed. It was the best they'd get right now. It was up to the tech heads and pilots to fight off the Kaiju. All he could do was provide tactical information and wait.

_Jaeger Barracks, Cybertronian Division…_

The Kaiju alert system rang through the barracks, waking its only two occupants from slumber. The two slowly moved to wake from recharge, and the first to stand was the femme Arcee. Standing twenty feet tall and covered in blue armor, Arcee was the only femme Cybertronian pilot and the only femme Cybertronian on planet.

She rolled off her berth and landed on her feet, quickly standing. She looked over at her partner Cliffjumper and rolled her optics. She walked over to him and lightly slapped the red mech's faceplate.

"Five more minutes," he mumbled.

"Cliff, we got a Kaiju alert, category three," Arcee said. "Fowler wants us at the tip of the spear."

Cliff moaned "Can't a Bot get Five minutes of recharge around here!?" he asked as he got up.

"Afraid not, partner," Arcee said as she made quick preparations before leaving. The only real preparation she had to make was to make sure that the neural jack at the base of her neck was clean and unobstructed. That was one advantage humans had over their Cybertronian brothers-in-arms.

They didn't need a neural jack; the device was capable of integrating with their nervous system wirelessly, something that the living metals of a Cybertronian could not allow. The result was that every Cybertronian Jaeger pilot had to have a neural uplink installed, courtesy of Shockwave.

Arcee shuddered at the memory. While many humans had learned to trust the Cons, Arcee knew that once the Kaiju were put down, they'd turn against the humans. Luckily, the humans had their own defenses, so odds of losing were slim.

Arcee, satisfied that her neural jack was clean turned to Cliffjumper. "Ready to kick some aft?" she asked.

Cliff smiled and slammed his fists together. "You know what they say, mess with Cliff," he started.

"And you get the horns," Arcee finished, faking a bored tone.

"Funny," he said as the two walked out of their quarters.

The halls of the base were bare and spartan, composed of mostly unpainted concrete with steel piping traveling along the walls, occasionally shooting steam or water. Fact was that the actual halls and living quarters in the Jaeger headquarters were less than ideal. It wasn't due to budget cuts, it simply was that the budget was poured into the advanced equipment that made up and ran the Jaegers, leaving little for personal comfort.

Arcee herself didn't mind; the conditions were still better than they'd been on Cybertron during the war, and any base that was getting shelled day in and day out was a plus for her.

The two made it to the final area before they would reach the Jaeger cockpit. A massive steel door stood before them, steel beams crisscrossing and strengthening the door. There was a loud creak and the door slowly swung open, revealing the large barren area that was the cockpit of their Jaeger.

It was a large expansive area by human terms, over 100 square feet, and contained only a few notable aspects. The first was the large golden visor at the end of the room curved upwards almost bow shaped in appearance. The next was the center of the room. Two large harnesses hung from the ceiling over two devices meant to lock their feet into place.

Arcee and Cliff approached said harnesses and slipped their feet into their position. The harness moved forward, and slipped into the neural Jack at the base of their necks.

"Neural jack in position," the computer said "Initiating Drift in Five…Four…Three…Two…One,"

"This is my favorite part," Cliff whispered, and Arcee smiled.

There was a sudden click, and the memories and feelings of Cliffjumper flooded Arcee's own. It was like ice water had been poured into her processor, and she let the memories flow. She could see his time as a racer before the war, his memories of when the first shots had been fired, and then the centuries of brutal conflict. She saw his memories of their first encounter, their escape from Cybertron, and their arrival on Earth.

She saw all of this in an instant, letting it all flow, not focusing on a single ideal or person. Slowly, the memories settled and Arcee opened her optics, feeling every detail that Cliff saw, their senses and feelings integrated into one unit.

Cliff and Arcee looked at each other. "You ready?" he asked.

Arcee smirked. "Of course."

_Jaeger hangar, Iacon Strike…_

The massive hangar doors, each one hundreds of feet high, slowly creaked open, revealing the massive steel form of Iacon Strike. Like most Cybertronian Jaegers, Iacon Strike stood 40 stories high, twice the height of a human Jaeger.

Its helm consisted of a basic helm with an upturned golden visor. A battle mask lay below it, similar to how some Cybertronians fought. It had massive broad shoulders and a smooth sweeping body, its whole form painted the odd color of purple.

According to rumor, this was a joke at the duo's expense due to Arcee being blue and Cliffjumper being red. Its shoulder pads swept back like a pair of wings, and its long legs were covered in simple armor.

It had two massive, five fingered fists, each one capable of ripping a 10 story building off its foundation. The feet were a simple round boot, and on its lower chest were two groups of missile pods.

Each pod contained 10 anti-Kaiju missiles designed for the express purpose of piercing the thick skin of a Kaiju. They were rated to pierce the skin of a category three and had enough ammunition to launch three salvos, more than enough to take down a Kaiju.

Inside the cockpit, located in the head, the two stood waiting as the last systems of the Jaeger powered up. Several terminals lowered between them allowing their free arms, the one not controlling the other half to interact with them if need be. The terminals displayed the current status of the Jaegers systems, and allowed direct access into the system if the situation demanded it.

"Initiating full neural release," The computer told them. There was a sudden hitch and the two watched as the floor around them slowly peeled back to reveal the tall standing walkers. These devices allowed the two to control the direct movement speed of the Jaeger and provided feedback into the pilot's legs. This meant that they moved in sync with their Jaeger and could react in real time to sudden shifts.

The downside was that these prevented kicks from being used as the walkers were directly connected to the Jaeger itself. This meant they were relying purely on their upper body for defense, something the two were used to.

Arcee flipped several switches on the terminal. "Activating holographic interface," she warned. There was a slight whir, and a holographic sphere materialized around Arcee's left servo and Cliff's right servo.

The two lifted their fists to chest level and smiled. Outside the Jaeger did the same, raising its fists in sync. With a quick movement, the two slammed their fists together, the Jaeger imitating the movement. A loud boom echoed across the waves of the ocean, and the rain that poured of the metal hands shot off, flying everywhere.

"Systems fully operational sir," Arcee reported.

_"Excellent, we're assigning you to the outer most entrance of the bay,"_ Fowler responded.

Cliffjumper looked at the location on their GPS terminal. "Commander, there's a civilian cruise ship out there. Shouldn't they evacuate first?" he asked.

"_No time,"_ he responded. _"It's either lose the ship or lose the city," _he said.

Cliff sighed. "Understood sir," he said and ended the link.

Arcee looked at her partner. "Cliff, I know that look," she said.

Cliff smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about, Cee," he said.

Arcee sighed. "Fine, let's go get those civilians out of the way," she said.

"It's as if you're in my head," he said jokingly.

Arcee gave him a serious look. "That's because I am, hotshot," she said.

"Ouch, Arcee you wound me," he said, placing his left servo over his spark chamber in mock pain.

Arcee rolled her optics. "You gonna keep yapping, or are we going to go save some civvies?" she asked.

"After you," he said. In one smooth movement, the two took a simultaneous step forward left foot first. Outside the Jaeger responded, its massive leg stepping forward, pushing massive amounts of water out of the way creating, miniature title waves as it did.

The massive Jaeger trudged through the water, making its way to the mouth of the bay. The category three, now labeled as Knifehead, was making its way to them, and would be there soon. Slowly, as the Jaeger approached the location, the water rose higher and higher, until it was up to its knees.

"Ratchet's gonna have a field day cleaning out the saltwater," Cliff said.

"Let's just hope he has his field day away from us," Arcee muttered as they continued to trudge forward.

Arcee spotted the lights of the cruise ship a quarter of a mile away. "There it is," she said, pointing at the ship. The Jaeger imitated her movement, its left arm pointing at the ship.

They made their approach to the ship, when their close range sonar went off. "This isn't good," Arcee said, examining it.

The water on the opposite side of the ship began to glow and bubble, as if something was occurring underneath it. The water began shooting up, rising higher and higher, spilling onto the deck of the ship. Slowly, the massive Kaiju fully emerged from the water, and with a shake of its massive head, thrust the remaining water off. Water by the thousands of gallons went flying everywhere, adding to the torrent of the rain drenching everything further.

But now, the full form of the hideous creature was revealed. It was massive, standing at nearly 40 stories tall, and the creature was covered in hideous gray skin. Yellow lines traced its veins, creating an eerie pattern along the creature's chest and arms. It had four large arms and two massive digitigrade legs, heavily muscled to support the creature. It had a long swinging tail, over a hundred feet long, but its head, its head was the defining feature.

Its head was long and protruding, resembling a shark's head. It was easily as long as the rest of the creature, and it was easy to see why it was classified as Knifehead. Its eyes were a sickening yellow, with narrow slit pupils and a mouth that was a neon yellow as well. Its mouth was full of hundreds of sharp crooked serrated teeth, each almost as large as a bus.

All in all, Knifehead was as ugly as they came, and his current target was the cruise ship floating before it. The monster let loose a terrifying roar, sounding like a mix between a T-Rex and tiger. The roar echoed across the bay and the creature dove down aiming to crush the ship with its massive knife shaped head.

A bolt of plasma slammed into its shoulder, and the Kaiju's head missed by feet, creating a massive wave. The ship rocked heavily from side to side while the Kaiju let out a roar of pain. It ignored the cruise ship and glared at the Jaeger making its way towards it, a plasma cannon armed on its right arm.

"Nice shot," Cliff complimented, and Arcee smiled.

The monster charged towards them, water flying from the thrashing of its legs and tail. Iacon Strike braced itself for impact, and the Kaiju slammed into them. They skidded back slightly before their right arm reached up and shoved the nose up. The Kaiju screeched angrily at them until Arcee brought the left fist in for a large haymaker.

There was a loud SMACK and crack as the Kaiju took the punch directly in its large mouth. Teeth and yellow blood flew out of its mouth, and the creature fell back. It quickly recovered and spun, swinging its tail into the side of Iacon Strike. There was the sound of groaning metal as it slammed into them, but the two stood firm, grabbing hold of the tail.

They twisted the tail, and the Kaiju twisted and fell into the sea with a screech of rage. It wallowed in the water for several seconds before it suddenly shot forward, slamming into the two. They both grunted as they held back this sudden onslaught of strength. Knifehead brought its lower arms forward, and there was a sharp screeching sound as its clawed arm tore into their midsection, spilling armor and fluid into the ocean below.

"Activating plasma cannon!" Cliff yelled and activated the interface.

The right arm began shifting and changing from a large metal fist into a massive blue cannon. Three prongs spun around a central barrel and surged with energy. He tried raising it to shoot, but the Kaiju pushed them back, causing them to slam back into the entrance of the bay, and the arm shot off, missing its target.

Cliff tried again, but Knifehead grabbed the arm and shoved it down, crushing the metal as he did. An idea entered the duos' heads, and they leaned back as far as they could against the rock and shot forward, slamming their head into the jaw of the Kaiju. It let go in pain, giving the two enough room to deliver a series of thunderous blows to its mid section.

The Kaiju fell back, its lower arms retracted, and hissed loudly at them. The two sprinted forward and Cliff delivered a vicious uppercut towards the creature. As its head shot up, they wrapped it in a choke hold, holding its head with one arm, while the left arm shifted into a plasma cannon charging for a shot.

Arcee slammed the cannon into the gut of the beast, and proceeded to fire three shots into its gut. The Kaiju screeched in agony as its midsection was ripped apart by the superheated plasma, and yellow blood poured from the wound.

Arcee prepared to finish the creature off, when their sonar went off again. "What the!?" was all she got out.

Another Kaiju, eerily similar to the one they were holding shot out of the water, tackling the two into the water. The cockpit became submerged and the two grunted in pain. Arcee's arm was pinned, but Cliff's was free. He pummeled the creature's right side forcing it to release them, if only for a short time. The two shot free of the grip and rose from the ocean, water cascading off their now battered and scarred Jaeger.

Their midsection was covered in gashes from the claw, and their right arm couldn't assume its cannon form; the Kaiju had made sure of that. Their whole chest was dented from the second one, and they were leaking fluids.

"Command, we have a problem," Arcee commed as the two Kaiju circled them.

"There are two category threes, not one," Arcee said.

_" WHAT!?" _Fowler screamed over the com. _"Get out of there! You'll be torn apart!"_

"Negative sir," Cliff and Arcee said at once. "We fall back now, thousands will die. This'll buy you time to get the other pilots ready," they said.

They cut the com off before Fowler could respond. Arcee looked to her partner. "You ready for this?" she asked.

Cliff smirked. "You know what they say, mess with Cliff."

Arcee smiled. "And you get the horns," she finished.

The two struck their fighting position and waited the two Kaiju, growing closer. It was only a matter of time before they attacked, and they turned in sync with them, trying to keep an eye on both of them. The original suddenly surged forward, aiming to impale them on its head.

The two dodged the blow, barely, but the head scraped through the side of their midsection. Metal screeched and broke, debris falling off into the ocean below, energon leaking from the wound. The Jaeger elbowed the creature at the base of the skull, hitting with a loud crack. The creature stumbled forward, stunned, but before they could finish it, the other slammed its head through their shoulder.

Arcee screamed in pain as the sudden cutoff of the left arm sent electricity surging through her own arm. "Arcee!" Cliff yelled. "Command, we've lost an arm. Where the pit is that backup?!" he demanded.

_"Hang tight Iacon Strike, ETA is 3 minutes," _Fowler responded.

"We don't have three minutes!" he yelled. Before he could say more, the Kaiju ripped its head to the side, and the entire arm tore off, wires, plating and tubing tearing apart. It fell into the ocean below, and the Jaeger stumbled through the water, landing on its knee.

It tried standing, only for the duo to receive a claw scraping across their visor. They whipped back, only to receive gashes from the second one along their spine. The two grunted in pain as the Kaiju grabbed them from behind. They looked forward and watched as the claws from the other one slam into their helm.

There was a screech and they looked up to see the claws tearing through the plating. "Command, we have a hull breach. I repeat, we have a hull breach!" Arcee screamed over her com. A sudden hitch caused her to look at Cliff/

"Arcee…" he started. "Don't forget," he said, and the claw tore through the helm, ripping Cliffjumper out of the cockpit, the entire right side of their helm destroyed.

"CLIFF JUMPER!" she screamed as rain poured into the cockpit. "Command, my partners gone; I'm assuming complete control of the Jaeger," she said and avoided the demands not to.

She assumed control of the right arm, and delivered an elbow into the monsters gut. It only loosened the grip slightly, but it was enough to let her break free. She ripped her arm through and slammed it into Kaiju's jaw, shattering teeth as she did. The Kaiju screeched and bit into the arm, tearing into the plating and wiring.

Arcee snarled. "Go to Hell you son of a bitch!" she screamed and activated the missile pods. The missiles streaked into the monster, exploding on impact. Fire and smoke streamed from the explosions, and the monster reared back letting out a scream of agony, as its internal organs were exposed. Arcee slammed her fist into its chest, and the Kaiju screeched loudly before it fell dead from its injuries.

The remaining one let out a keenful wail as its brother died. "Now were even, you Pit-spawned monster," she growled, turning to it.

The original still stood and charged at Arcee. Arcee tried to move, but the strain was too much, and she took the knife shaped head through her collarbone, metal ripping under the blow. Instead of breaking free though, Arcee gripped the head and held it in place. She fired everything from the pods, ignoring the danger.

Explosions ripped into the Kaiju, and it screeched as its face and upper torso were torn apart. It let out a final pain filled roar as it slid out of her shoulder and died…

_Early the next morning…_

Humans gathered along the coast of San Diego, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Iacon Strike. They knew of the battle between the Jaeger team and the two Category Three Kaiju and were prepared to give it a hero's welcome.

The Jaeger HQ had been unable to locate the Jaeger despite its size, but estimated that the team was likely making its way inland, as a third category two Kaiju had assaulted HQ while those two had been occupied.

Now though, the Kaiju had been pushed back, and the people waited for their heroes to arrive. As if on cue, a loud thunderous footstep was heard, followed by another, and another. Soon, it was obvious that Iacon Strike was coming, and a faint figure could be seen approaching the beach, massive in size, towering over every building in the city.

The Jaeger finally broke through the mist that engulfed the city, and everyone looked in stunned silence. Iacon Strike was in horrific condition, its midsection covered in deep narrow gashes, its left arm completely gone, and its head torn open. As the Jaeger approached the beach, its legs gave out, and it fell forward, using its remaining arm to stop itself.

There was a loud boom as its gigantic hand slammed into the sand before its unsupported side crashed into the ground. The entire Jaeger seemed to shut down, energon leaking from the gashes and holes in its armor, and the people watched, breath held.

Small thuds could be heard, and the blue, feminine form of Arcee emerged, limping from the Jaeger, her left arm covered in burn marks. She collapsed at the edge of the Jaeger's skull, crashing on her back, something clenched tightly in her servo.

People called the authorities, alerting them of what they'd seen, and in minutes Ratchet and a team of humans were on the scene. Ratchet quickly made his way to the femme and kneeled by her. He checked over her vitals and found, to his relief, that she was unharmed, simply exhausted. But then he noticed that someone was missing.

"Arcee," he said quietly. The femme opened her eyes weakly and looked at the medic. "Where is Cliffjumper?" he asked.

Arcee's eyes filled with sadness. Instead of saying a word, she opened her servo. In it was a single disembodied horn. "Gone," she sobbed. "He's gone, and it's my fault," she said and collapsed into sobs.

Ratchet turned to the human team that was sent with him. "Clear the area, get these civilians out of here!" he ordered. The area was quickly cut off, and the civilians forced to move along. Ratchet simply sat there with the femme, gently calming her, trying to help her to forget the pain.

But she didn't, she didn't want to forget, she wouldn't forget. Instead, she would remember, remember those last moments of terror that Cliff felt, the pain, the fear, forever seared into her processor. She would never forget, because it was all her fault…

_1 Week Later…_

Arcee stood in Optimus Prime's office at attention. In the week since the attack, Iacon Strike and the Kaiju had been cleaned up, the former unfortunately had to be scrapped, too damaged and dated to rebuild. Now, Arcee hoped that Optimus had found a new partner for her, anyone. She just had to keep fighting.

Arcee looked at the scars that littered her left arm. They had healed quickly with Ratchets help, but the faint scars would never fully fade, a bitter reminder of how she'd failed. In her mind, losing Cliffjumper was a loss, a loss that would never be replaced, not even with a new partner, but as long as she could do her job, it wouldn't be in vain.

Booming footsteps echoed through the office as Optimus entered. "Arcee," he greeted.

"Optimus," she returned.

The Prime vented before speaking. "I have heard you've put in a request for a new partner?" he asked.

"I have sir. I wish to keep fighting, to honor Cliffjumper's loss," she said, her servo tracing the necklace with her the horn attached to it. She wanted to keep a piece of him to remember. What they'd found of his body…Was only enough to bury. Starscream said he was taking his body back to Cybertron for a proper burial.

Perhaps the femme had been wrong about the Seeker's intentions; no Con would have offered such a thing before. Regardless though, the horn was all she had left of him.

"Arcee," Optimus started. "I am afraid your request…has been…denied," the Prime said, sadness evident in his optics.

Arcee felt her spark break and looked at the Prime with shock. "Why?" she asked.

"There is no Cybertronian matching your psych profile to drift with," he said. "We could not place you in a Jaeger if we'd wanted" he explained.

"B-but…" she started.

Optimus silenced her with a raised servo. "I know that you wish to fight, and you shall. I am assigning you to patrol duty, in case of Kaiju attacks," he said.

Arcee's helm fell. She knew it was pointless to argue. Optimus would let her fight if it was possible, but the facts didn't lie. Without Cliff, she couldn't drift, and if she couldn't drift, a Jaeger would eventually kill her. She still remembered the strain of controlling it alone had taken on her. She'd fallen into stasis lock for a full day before awakening.

"I understand sir," she whispered.

"You are dismissed," Optimus said. Arcee saluted weakly and left the office. It seemed she was confined to watching from the sidelines, just like when the Kaiju first invaded. There was no hope left for her, but she might as well be thankful that she had some sort of job left. Optimus gave her a chance with patrolling, and, like when she was a Jaeger pilot, she'd put her all into it…

_Three years later…_

Arcee sat in the Cybertronian mess hall, an energon cube in her hands. Her time on patrol had been…dull, simple as that. She never encountered Kaiju, the Jaeger were holding strong against the increasing tide of the monsters. Every Kaiju that came through now was a Category Three or Four, and she dreaded the day when it was a Category Five that came through.

Even the Kaon Krusher, the replacement for the Iacon Striker, controlled by the cons Breakdown, and Knockout wouldn't hold against one of those. The two had become the most renowned Jaeger team when Iacon Striker was destroyed, and one of only two Cybertronian Jaeger's left, both under the control of the Cons.

The second, the Nemesis Streaker was piloted by the twins Skyquake and Dreadwing, the most honorable Cons she'd met. It was a shame they were completely loyal to the Decepticon cause, otherwise they would have made good Autobots.

It was at that moment that Knockout and Breakdown entered the hall, Breakdown's foot falls echoing against the concrete floor. "Man, did you see the look on that Kaiju's face when we deployed the flamethrower? I mean, I've heard of being burned, but jeez,"

"Yes, well ,perhaps next time we take on a Kaiju you'll consider not getting so close to them. It's going to take hours for me to buff out the scratches," Knockout whined.

"You know we have humans for that right?" Breakdown asked.

Knockout smirked. "Those humans wouldn't know how to buff a decent paint job if it bit them in the aft," he said in a confusing line.

Knockouts optics settled on Arcee, and Arcee knew what was coming next. There was a reason she normally ate alone. The two mechs approached her and she sighed inwardly.

"Why hello Arcee, fancy seeing you here," the Con said smoothly.

Arcee glared at him. "It's the only place to get a hold of any energon; where else would I be?" she asked with an annoyed tone.

Knockout ignored her annoyance. "Of course, I just figured you wouldn't want to refuel all alone," he said with a slimy grin.

"I prefer to be alone," she said, turning her head away from him.

"Come now, don't be like that. After all, we _are _heroes," Knockout said, not noticing Arcee tensing. "You know, like you and Cliff-" He was cut off by a swift punch to the faceplate.

The Con stumbled back, grasping his faceplate in pain. "Gragh! What was that for!?" he demanded, running his servos over his faceplate, looking for scratches.

Arcee glared at him. "Don't _ever_ compare yourself to Cliff," she growled. "He was twice the mech you two would ever be," she said.

She promptly turned and began walking out of the hall, when Knockout called. "Didn't keep him from becoming Kaiju chow though, did it!" he taunted.

Arcee froze. "What… Did you say?" she growled, her servos tightening.

"You heard me, glitch," the prissy mech said.

Arcee turned to him angrily, ready to attack him when a deep voice interrupted them. "Both of you, stand down now!" Optimus ordered.

Optimus looked at Arcee. "My office," he ordered. "Now!"

Arcee nodded angrily, knowing what was coming next and made her way to Prime's office. She stood inside, waiting, and the Prime entered after her, shutting the door behind her. Optimus went to his terminal checking over several field reports before turning to Arcee.

"Optimus," she started. "He started it, I was just-" Optimus cut her off.

"I didn't call you in here for that," he said, and Arcee looked at him confused.

"You…didn't?" she asked.

Optimus shook his head. "I called you in here to offer you a choice," he said,

Arcee gave him a wary look. "What kind of…choice?" she asked.

The Prime's faceplate remained blank as he spoke. "A choice to either continue patrolling, or a second chance in the Jaeger program,"

**A/N: Well, here's the first real chapter. What do you guys think? ****Anyway, review with critique, or PM me with plot based questions or ideas! Bye!**


	3. Chapter 2: Project Synthesis

Chapter 2: Project Synthesis

_San Diego Jaeger Headquarters…_

Arcee looked at Optimus in shock. He'd just offered her another chance at the Jaeger program! It was a dream come true to her, to be able to fight again. But… Hadn't he said there were no other Cybertronians compatible? Had a new batch arrived and one was seen as compatible to her?

Arcee decided to voice her thoughts "Not that I'm not flattered by the offer Optimus, but I thought you said no one was drift compatible with me?" she asked.

Optimus nodded "You would be correct Arcee, however, I am not offering you a spot with a Cybertronian partner," he said.

Arcee tilted her head in confusion at the Primes words "I… What do you mean?" she asked completely confused.

"There is a new project in development, known as project synthesis. We are looking for suitable candidates for the project, you were the first to show up," Optimus said.

"Me?" Arcee asked further confused "Why me? No, better question, what's Project Synthesis?" she asked.

"Project Synthesis," Optimus explained "is a new Jaeger program, seeking to create Jaegers larger and more powerful than the human Jaegers, but smaller and faster than a traditional Jaeger. For this project, only one Cybertronian pilot is required," he said.

Arcee eyed him suspiciously "I thought two pilots were needed to pilot a Jaeger?" she said, remembering the strain of piloting the Jaeger alone. It had almost killed her, the missiles being the only reason she hadn't gone offline.

"I did not say there was only a single pilot, only a single Cybertronian pilot," Optimus emphasized "The second pilot is a human pilot,"

Arcee felt her jaw drop. Drifting with a human? Was that even possible? She'd heard rumors that attempts had been made in the early days, but that the human mind couldn't handle the vast amount of memories from a Cybertronian flowing into their mind. So the idea was dropped, allowing Cybertronians and humans to only drift with members of their own species.

At least, that's what she thought "How… is that even possible?" she asked "I thought our minds were too old for a human to handle," she said.

"Up until recently, it was impossible, but recent events have lead to a breakthrough that allows a Cybertronian mind to drift with that of a human nearly perfectly. It has been tested and it is perfectly safe," Optimus said assuredly.

Arcee regarded her superior with worry before speaking "And if I accepted… I would get back in the field?" she asked.

"Once you have been properly prepared, you will be sent back into the field," Optimus confirmed.

"And how long will this take?" she asked.

"Roughly twelve months to prepare your neural jack, and your body for drifting, as well as assemble a list of suitable candidates," Optimus said.

"What do you mean by, 'prepare my body'?" she asked nervously.

"Part of the breakthrough involves the use of the mass shifter, a device reverse engineered off an ancient Cybertronian relic that allows a Cybertronian to shrink to the size of a human" Optimus said

"However, the device must be connected to the wearers processor to function correctly, but once connected allows free range change from their original size to human sized with just a thought," he said.

"How do you know this is safe?" Arcee asked warily. She wasn't going to accept only to have her processor fried on an operating table.

"Because I have tested these procedures myself," Optimus said.

Arcee's optics widened in shock "What? You, tested something like this yourself? Why not let one of the cons handle it?" she asked angrily.

Optimus raised a hand "Arcee, calm yourself," he ordered "The reason, is that I believed in the value of such a project, but could not condone others to take such a risk. I have tested it and it is perfectly safe for Cybertronian use," Optimus said, his voice confident as ever.

Arcee, did not share his confidence "Prove it," she said, unconvinced.

Optimus nodded and closed his optics. There was a small whirring sound and to Arcee's utter shock Optimus Prime shrank, growing smaller and smaller and smaller. He eventually stopped when he stood roughly six feet and looked up at Arcee.

"Are you convinced?" he asked.

Arcee just nodded her jaw hanging in shock. Satisfied she was convinced Optimus quickly returned to his original size towering over Arcee once more. The femme was still getting over her shock, and shook herself when she realized that Optimus was back to normal.

"So," Optimus said "What is your decision?"

Arcee only thought briefly before giving her answer "When do I sign up?"

_Six months later…_

Arcee sat in the cargo plane as it made its descent on the medical facility. It was a hidden facility, where Arcee would receive the final implant needed for Project Synthesis, the mass shifter. She wasn't sure who would be operating, but what she knew for sure was that Shockwave would not be involved.

That had been one of her biggest concerns, the one eyed con was terrifying, and still lacked any form of emotion. However, Project Synthesis was a purely Autobot and human project, though the cons were aware of its existence, they simply didn't care.

They had two Jaeger teams, both of who were heroes to the people, so Starscream saw no reason to even attempt and drift with the humans. In Arcee's own opinion this was a plus, the seeker was not trustworthy around humans, despite having helped form the alliance. His distaste for them was obvious, and anyone with half a processor knew that the alliance was formed out of desperation, not a willingness to end the war.

Regardless, getting away from the cons for the past few months alone had been worth it. Arcee was pretty sure she'd rip Knockouts optics out if he'd kept hitting on her like that, and besides, the past six months had been relatively easy.

Arcee had gone through multiple surgeries to upgrade her neural net and to allow her body to receive the mass shifter. Once it was installed fully the remaining six months would be spent training her to use and adapt to it.

Arcee's thoughts were interrupted as the plane jerked and bounced, having come in for a landing finally. The plane taxied to a halt, the cargo door whirring as it slowly lowered. Arcee stood and walked down the ramp out onto the runway.

Several humans dressed in medical clothing were waiting as well as Optimus and Commander Fowler, there former liaison to the human world. At least, before the breach opened. There was someone else standing next to Fowler though Arcee didn't recognize him.

"Arcee, how was your flight?" Fowler asked. The man had become far more respectable as the Kaiju attacked, and shed close to a hundred pound once he was put in charge of the Jaeger base in San Diego. He was now the picture of health, and commanded respect from those around him, human or bot.

"It was fine Fowler, about as bumpy as usual," she said, and noticed the other person standing next to Fowler. he was a male, about the same height as Fowler, with pale skin, onyx black hair and grey-blue eyes. He looked to be about 18 or 19, though Arcee always had difficulty telling the age of humans.

"Who's the kid?" she asked.

Optimus opened his mouth to respond, but the boy cut him off "Jackson Darby, I'm… Optimus's assistant," he said "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard a lot about you," he said.

Arcee raised a brow. Since when did Prime have an assistant? It was obvious this boy was hiding something but she decided not to pry. If Optimus wanted to tell her he why he suddenly had an assistant he would.

"So… where's the med bay?" Arcee asked returning her attention to Optimus.

"Jackson shall lead you there, I have… Political matters to attend to," Optimus said. His tone of voice suggested he'd rather be anywhere but here right now about to talk with a bunch of politicians.

Arcee had nothing but sympathy for the Prime. She'd dealt with plenty of them during the great war and even during her time as a Jaeger pilot. In her personal opinion, human politicians were worse, they didn't seem to understand how large a threat the Kaiju were and believed that the Jaeger's were invincible. Arcee was a testament to how wrong they were.

Arcee nodded and turned to the human "Lead the way kid," she said gesturing onwards.

Jack moved quickly leading the femme to the medical building. As the two walked Arcee noticed the young man sparing a quick glance at her from time to time. Arcee was a tad confused by this behavior. Sure humans had always looked at her even ogled her, something she was used to, but these looks were different. More… curious than anything.

Arcee decided to ask exactly what the kid was doing when he stopped "Here we are," he said. Arcee looked at the building. It was a plain grey building, very much resembling a standard hangar. Odds were it was once a hangar, often the military converted them for Cybertronian use. The Autobot base had been temporarily relocated to one until the Jaeger program had started.

Arcee nodded her thanks to Jack and walked into the hangar. She walked in and had to admit she was pretty impressed by the setup in the hangar. Monitors and lights were everywhere, Energon tanks attached to a berth in the center of the room. There was only a single being in the room, the red and white form of Ratchet.

Arcee smiled as she approached, she hadn't seen the medic since Cliff's death, he was too busy working on the Jaegers to talk with her. In fact all the Autobots were busy and Arcee realized that she hadn't talked with another Autobot excluding Optimus in two years. She'd talked with Bumblebee who had been her temporary patrol partner until he was transferred to Sydney. Since then Arcee had been left with only humans and cons to talk to.

Ratchet smiled at her as she approached "Arcee, it's good to see you again," he greeted.

"Likewise Ratchet," she looked around the empty hangar "Sure is secretive around here. even for this project," she said.

Ratchets chipper mood fell "There's a reason, there have been… rumors," he said.

Arcee raised a brow "What kind of rumors?" she asked.

"Rumors that Megatron will soon be returning," Ratchet said.

Arcee's optics widened "Ratchet, are you sure, because if Megatron returns…" she said.

Ratchet nodded "I know, the Decepticons will turn on us. That is why we are being so secretive. The project is to help our alliance with the humans and bring our own Jaeger pilots back to the field as a contingency should _he_ ever return," Ratchet said, his voice foreboding.

The two were silent before Arcee spoke "Sooo… We should probably get to work on installing that mass shifter," Arcee said.

Ratchet smiled "Indeed we should, if you would lie on the berth please?" he asked.

Arcee obliged him and lay on the berth, waiting for what came next "Now, you might feel a slight pinch, but when you do you'll fall into forced stasis," Ratchet explained.

Arcee nodded and waited for him to put her into stasis. She felt a slight click at the base of her head and felt her optics slowly power down…

_Later…_

Arcee's optics powered back on and she blinked as she looked around at the hangar area. She heard Ratchet working on putting some equipment away and attempted to sit up. The doctor heard her however, and rushed over to her.

"Ep, ep, ep," he said "Lie back down, your still recovering from the surgery, it'll be a few minutes before you can start straining yourself like this," Ratchet warned.

Arcee laid back down, and nodded understanding his warning. The base of her head felt like it was on fire, and she felt exhausted. Still, the most dangerous part of the journey was done. At least it was supposed to be right?

Arcee lifted her head off the berth slightly "That was the last surgery, right?" Arcee asked nervously.

Ratchet smiled as he finished putting the materials away "Yes, it was, and it was a complete success," he said proudly.

Arcee rested her head back on the berth, content with herself. Now came the next most interesting part…

_Six months later…_

Arcee sat in the helicopter human sized as it flew through the storm to her old base. The Jaeger headquarters in San Diego. It was the only one of the remaining bases that didn't have the con's stationed there. It and the base in Hong Kong and Sydney were the only Headquarters still functioning.

The last three and a half years of fighting had taken its toll on the Jaeger program, the number of bases and Jaegers were dwindling, being cut down every month. The Kaiju were just simply coming through and destroying Jaegers faster than they could be rebuilt. The base in San Diego still stood due to the relatively sealed off nature of the bay, and fact that there were several fixed defenses along the coast.

Under normal conditions the defenses would be useless against Kaiju, the bests moved to fast for them to be effective, but the fixed defenses used missiles designed to track Kaiju, tracking the unique properties of their blood instead of heat, something their thick skin hid to well from the sensors.

Arcee turned her head to look at the base as they made their final approach and had to hide a gasp of surprise. The base had always been less than pleasant to look at, but now it looked old, worn down. Several of the domes looked abandoned and the Cybertronian barracks were destroyed from an earlier attack that year.

The concrete of the base itself was aged and cracking, algae starting to creep up the sides of the base. The lights flickered and died in some areas, and even the landing pad they were landing on looked faded.

The chopper jolted as it landed and Arcee saw the side door open into a staircase. Standing up Arcee made her way out of the vehicle, being its sole occupant, minus the pilots of course. She stepped out onto the stairs and felt the rain pelt against her metal frame. It didn't bother her, she'd dry quickly enough.

She saw Commander fowler standing in the rain with a black umbrella waiting for her, as well as Optimus and his… assistant Jack. Optimus was human size as well, though like Arcee lacked an umbrella. His assistant did not, and was dressed in a black overcoat.

Arcee walked down the stairs and greeted the three "Optimus, Fowler, Jack," she greeted.

"I take it your flight was good?" Fowler asked motioning for her to follow.

Arcee shrugged "About as good as it can be in this weather," she admitted. She'd had no choice but to take the flight, ground bridging could alert the cons to their project. Starscream knew about it, but Optimus said he wished to keep as much about the project a secret in case _he_ returned.

They walked into a large elevator, with another occupant, a teenager with streaked back hair and red glasses, holding a laptop in his hands. He looked up at Arcee and smiled holding his hand out in greeting.

"Rafael Esquivel," he greeted "I'm the one who developed the drift sequence between Cybertronians and humans," he said.

Arcee looked at him shocked "Aren't you a little young for something like that?" she asked.

Raf shrugged as the elevator doors closed "It was quiet easy, all that was needed was an implant for the human pilot, helps them store the memories better. I won't get into detail, but basically the implant keeps the memories stored away so the pilot isn't overwhelmed by the size. They still get the initial flow, but their mind isn't overridden by the memories," he explained.

"That so?" Arcee said, actually interested by this. If she was going to be drifting with a human, she needed to know the basic mechanics of how it worked.

Raf nodded "I'm honestly surprised that no one thought of it earlier," he said.

"That's because implanting humans can be dangerous," Fowler said, and Arcee could have sworn that she saw Fowlers and Optimus's eyes flick towards Jack. She ignored it, again, not her business to know.

The elevator stopped before Raf could respond and opened up into the hangar "Figured you'd want to see the Jaeger before we assigned you to your quarters," Fowler said.

He lead them into the massive hangar and Arcee almost gawked at the size. It had been three years since the last time she'd been in a Jaeger hangar, and they were still as massive as she remembered.

It stretched hundreds of feet into the air in a massive dome shape, various tool supply stations and crates littering the area. Scaffolding hung from the roof with cranes attached to them that could slide to and from above the Jaeger. There were cranes on the ground as well to lift the massive plates of metal into place if need be.

Arcee's eye then caught the Jaeger she and her eventual partner would be piloting. It was large, standing over thirty stories tall, and intimidating. It had a simple almost bullet shaped head with a battle mask where the mouth would be. The visor was horizontal, only curving up slightly at the end.

Its torso was lean and angular, appearing aerodynamic. It had a large spinning turbine in the midsection where the chest met the abdomen and Arcee could imagine the practical uses of such a device. It's body streaked back creating small wings on the back, adding to the aerodynamic look. The shoulder pads were slightly angular as well and each arm ended in a large five fingered fist. The legs were armored simply, the lower "boot" sections flaring out slightly, further adding to the aerodynamic look.

The Jaeger had a light blue body, with red highlights to contrast it. A red stripe ran across the top of its head, and there were three red stripes along the right shoulder pad. The visor of course was a golden orange color that worked well with the colors. The plating of the Jaeger itself seemed molded together well as if it were natural.

Arcee looked at the Jaeger with awe. It seemed to possess an air of both durability and speed, something few Jaegers could claim to own. It was always either one or the other.

"It's name is Blindside," Optimus explained "And it is the most advance Jaeger ever designed," he said further.

"Specs?" Arcee asked.

"330 feet tall 2,078 tons, given an armor rating of nine, speed rating of ten, and a strength rating of ten. Contains a Nuclear Vortex Turbine in the center chest, hardened against EMP attacks and contains gyro stabilizers in the legs as well as Oceanic cooling vents that use ocean water as part of the cooling system. The wings function as a stabilizer and help the Jaeger move faster without risking falling off balance," Jack answered. Arcee looked at the boy in shock and he looked away.

"At least… that's what I've read," he said rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Fowler gave out a slight cough while Optimus seemed to… reprimand the boy? That's what it looked like, or at least Optimus appeared to be glaring at the boy with disapproval the question was why?

"Anyway," Fowler said regaining the femmes attention "I'm pretty sure you'd like to see your quarters, rest before you meet the candidates," he said.

Arcee nodded "That sounds good," she said.

"Jack, show Arcee to her quarters," Fowler said.

Jacks head shot back up and he looked at the commander before nodding hesitantly. He motioned for the femme to follow him and lead her down a maze of halls. While she followed Arcee noticed that the halls of the base had fallen into horrifying shape. Pipes were beginning to rust over, water dripped onto the floor, and the concrete walls were stained and cracked.

Jack seemed to notice her shock "Is… something wrong?" he asked.

"The base it's a lot older than I remember," she admitted.

"Budget cuts," he explained "Things on the front line haven't been going well," he said. Arcee nodded remembering how Kaiju attacks seemed to be growing more frequent and more powerful. It was almost guaranteed that at least one Jaeger would be destroyed in every encounter, the number of which had increased from once per month to once every two weeks.

It was a war of attrition and it seemed the Jaegers were currently losing. They weren't seen as the same invincible machines of war. That is except for the Cybertronian ones, they'd only lost one in Six years of service… Iacon Strike.

"Well, here it is," Jack said stopping in front of a large steel door. Concrete steps lead up to it, and it was designed like the doors of a submarine likely in case the base took too much damage.

"If you need anything my room is right down the hall," Jack said pointing to a room three doors down. Arcee nodded and turned to enter her room, when a sudden thought entered her head.

"How come you knew so much about the Jaeger?" she asked.

Jack rubbed his head again nervously "I just like Jaegers, I've wanted to be a Jaeger pilot since the program started," he admitted to her. Truthfully Arcee wasn't that surprised, a lot of the younger people who'd been around during the Jaeger attacks wanted payback. Then again wasn't that why she'd excepted in the first place? To get revenge?

She shook herself of such thoughts and redirected her attention to the young man before her "Well, what's your score in the simulator?" she asked.

Jack looked up "50 and 0," he said.

"Impressive," she praised "You should talk to Optimus or Fowler, I'm sure they'd need a pilot that skilled," she said. She wasn't lying, a score like that was rare, her own personal score was 53 and Four, to have 50 straight wins in the simulator was unheard of.

Jack blushed " Thanks, I'll… keep that in mind," he said and walked off to his own room, shutting the door behind him. Arcee smirked at the boys embarrassment and entered her own room.

It was a fairly simple room made of barren concrete with an empty berth on the left side and a terminal at the end of the room along with a small desk. Pipes arched overhead and crept up the other corner. There was a small sink and dresser as well, though Arcee had no need of them. A small flat screen television was also hooked up against the wall. It was obvious her room was originally meant for a human, but that didn't bother her.

Arcee sighed and lay on her berth. Tomorrow was going to be interesting. She'd be sparring with several humans for the potential of a new partner. Psych tests would only tell a person so much about them.

In Arcee's own opinion how an opponent fought was what truly determined if a person could drift with them. If they could predict their opponents attacks and counter them effectively with a similar technique, it meant they could drift well. If not, well then they couldn't be considered an appropriate partner.

Arcee cleared her mind and let herself fade into recharge…

_The Next Day…_

Arcee grunted as she delivered the final strike against the candidate and he fell on his rear "4 and 0," the score keeper said. The sparring room was quiet simple, a single large room with a single mat in the center. Various wooden weapons lined the walls with the piping exposed behind them. There were two entrances one to her front and one to her rear.

The one behind her only had to occupants, Optimus and Fowler who watched in anticipation. Optimus's "assistant" was nowhere to be seen and when Arcee asked, he'd simply said he was busy with something else. Arcee had acknowledged it and went to sparring, defeating her opponents with ease.

No human had yet to lay a single blow on her but one, a Caucasian male, and that had been a slip up on Arcee's part. She'd been holding back, after that she didn't. Her blades didn't actually hurt anyone, a guard had been placed on them to protect keep them from hurting her sparring partners, but so far she hadn't been impressed.

She really shouldn't have been shocked, her fighting style was different from any other bot or con on Earth. She preferred to use a fast and quick approach delivering as many light strikes on a single opponent at a time staying light on her feet while she did. the humans she'd been paired with appeared to prefer more solid fighting styles which lead to them being planted on their rears… a lot.

A new opponent entered the ring and Arcee struck her fighting position "Ready?" The score keeper asked, the two nodded "Begin!" he said and the two circled each other.

The fighter held a single wooden sword held in two hands in front of him, Samurai style. Arcee smirked, this would be a cake walk. Arcee stepped forward and leapt over her opponent, twisting as she landed and placing her blade on his neck. She then kicked his legs out from under him.

"2 and 0" the scorekeeper announced as her opponent got to his feet. This time Arcee let him strike first, blocking with her arm blade, then using her second one twisted it out of his arm and punched him with an open fist, knocking him on his back.

"3 and 0," her opponent got on his feet and retrieved his weapon. he raised it to strike only for Arcee to dodge the strike and elbow him in the back. He fell forward on the ground.

"4 and 0," the scorekeeper announce "Arcee wins… Again," he said. There were groans from the candidates from the front of the room and Arcee turned to her superiors.

"Is that really the best?" she asked.

Fowler sighed "Your fighting style is just so unique," he explained "But keep going, we still have another five to go," he ordered.

Arcee sighed "If they're all this easy I don't see the point," she complained.

"Don't be so sure," a voice said from behind her. Arcee saw Primes optics widen in shock and anger and Arcee turned to see her opponent.

Jack Darby smiled "You never know when someone might surprise you," he said.

**A/N: MWA HA HA HA! God I am evil! Third cliffhanger in a row new record! Anyway, what do you guys think? Was anyone shocked by some of these developments? Let me know if you were. Also remember to review with Critique, and PM me with plot ideas or questions. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 3: Sparring

Chapter 3: Sparring

_Jaeger Headquarters, San Diego…_

Arcee looked at the teen in shock. Of all her opponents, the relatively timid Jack was not one she'd been expecting to face. From the look on Optimus's faceplate, he probably wasn't expecting him either.

Jack, on the other hand, stood confidently on the mat, dressed in grey sweat pants and a grey tank top, his bare feet resting lightly on the mat. He held two wooden swords in his hand, one held traditionally and the other held backwards. It looked like a relaxed, confident stance, and Jack appeared eager to start.

Arcee opened her mouth to ask if he even was implanted from the procedure when Optimus cut her off. "Jackson, can I speak to you… alone?" His tone suggested he was not happy about this turn of events.

Jack's eagerness evaporated and his pose dropped. He slowly nodded and walked to Optimus, who stood waiting, arms crossed. Arcee had never seen the Prime like this. He looked incredibly angry or disappointed; it was hard to tell.

The two walked off a short distance and began what she could only guess was a very heated argument, Jack raising his arms and gesturing with his hands from himself to the mat and occasionally his head. Arcee cocked a brow at the spectacle.

Optimus appeared to be winning the argument at first, when Jack said something, and the Prime became very tense. The two glared at each other for several seconds before Optimus seemed to finally give in, albeit reluctantly.

Optimus bowed his helm in defeat and pointed to the mat for Jack to return. Jack walked to the mat, and Arcee could just barely make out the trembling in his frame. It wasn't from fear; it was from…excitement. The boy was eager to test himself against Arcee it seemed. The femme smiled. She'd be more than happy to oblige him.

Jack stood across from her and reassumed his stance. "You know," Arcee said, assuming her own stance as well. "When I said you should consider becoming a pilot, this isn't exactly what I meant kid," she said.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "One, I'm not a kid, and two, I'm perfectly capable of fitting with this program. I have the implant," he said.

Arcee's optics widened. That was why Fowler and Optimus had looked at him when the implant had been mentioned. The young man must have been implanted, though it seemed that Optimus wasn't exactly pleased by it.

The two began circling each other, waiting for the other to strike first. "You know just having the implant doesn't make you drift compatible," she said.

"I know," Jack said, "but I've compared the files, our psych evaluations put us at a 87% match, closer than any other candidate," he said.

Arcee smirked. "There is more to compatibility than just psych files kid," she said and struck out in a flurry of attacks that would daze and then disarm her opponent. To her shock, Jack blocked and redirected each one. He spun on the heel of his foot, coming around behind her. Arcee moved to intercept him, only to find the tip of his sword under her throat.

Jack smiled. "1 and 0," he said.

Arcee narrowed her optics. "Beginner's luck," she said as the two broke apart. Jack chuckled lightly at that and reassumed his fighting position. This time Jack struck first, lashing out with his right sword, only to be blocked by Arcee. She redirected the attack to try and knock him on the mat, but Jack saw it coming and blocked her second blade with his own.

The two broke apart, and Arcee ran back to her opponent and twisted, aiming to bring the blade to his throat. Jack whipped back, dodging the blow and watching as the blade passed his throat by centimeters. Jack whipped back forward, his blades crossing at Arcee's neck, and the femme froze.

"2 and 0," he said with a slight smile. Arcee kept the growl of annoyance in her throat and stepped back from the boy. She'd been holding back slightly, given how Optimus was acting, but now she wasn't going to hold back anymore.

The two broke apart and began a dance of death, their blades flashing and moving fast. Every time she tried to strike Jack blocked it, every time he tried to return it, Arcee parried. It seemed the two were locked in a stalemate until Arcee began noticing a slight pattern to his blows. It was slight, ever so slight, but every 3rd blow the boy would stop only for a brief moment, too short for a normal human to react to, but Arcee had centuries of combat experience to build off of.

She suddenly shot forward, her blade ripping Jack's swords from his hands and whipping her own blade towards his neck. The two froze, Jack panting slightly from the exertion, Arcee holding her blade a hair's breadth away from his neck.

"2 and 1," she said. Jack smiled and backed away, picking the blades back up. The two resumed their battle, beginning another dance between the two. Arcee swiped at Jack's midsection, and the teen dashed out of the way just in time to miss the blade. He retaliated with a strike towards Arcee's helm, only to have her knock the blade aside with her own and knock him flat on his aft.

"2 and 2," she smirked. Jack slowly got back up, and the two started again, whirling back and forth, their attacks having grown faster and smoother, as if each one knew what the other would do and reacted accordingly.

Jack shot his blades towards the femme's knees, only to get blocked. Arcee aimed to use her free blade to attack Jack, but he ducked under the blow and used his right blade to tap Arcee in the silver midsection.

"3 and 2," he responded, a broad smile on his face. It was obvious that he hadn't expected to get this far, and, truthfully, Arcee was shocked. The boy fought with a ferocity that she'd only seen in a few bots, Cliffjumper being one of them. Question was where did he learn his skills?

The two went at it again, their strikes becoming more precise, more calculating, and faster. Neither of the two appeared to be giving any ground, not until Jack tripped up, stepping too far forward to stab at Arcee's legs. Arcee took advantage of this, using his overextended stance to trip him forward on his face.

"3 and 3," she said, starting to enjoy the fight. Jack got back to his feet, and the two circled each other. This was it, the final point, whoever scored won, and neither of the two was willing to lose. Jack charged forward first, and his blades locked with Arcee's for a brief second before the two broke off.

They resumed their attack, and their blades flashed together in perfect unison. Dodging, blocking, flourishing, and parries; it looked and all felt natural and rehearsed, as if both knew what the other would do. This pattern continued for several minutes, the audiences watching in eager anticipation, wondering who would come out on top.

Suddenly, Jack's blades locked _inside_ Arcee's arm blades, and he held them there the best he could, trying to hold her blades in place so as to knock her to the floor. Arcee had different ideas and with a flick of her arms ripped the two blades from Jack's hands. Jack looked at her in shock, and the femme struck out at him, aiming to end this.

Jack scrambled back, avoiding each strike, dodging under them or to the side of them. He twisted around Arcee, grabbing hold of one of his blades on the ground and brought it forward to her throat at the same time she did the same. The two stopped, Jack breathing heavily and Arcee venting to activate her cooling system.

"4 and 4," the scorekeeper said, the first time he'd spoken since they began. The two dropped their guard, and Arcee regarded Jack with new respect, before turning to Optimus.

"I've found my new partner," she proclaimed to the Prime.

Optimus frowned. "That is a matter for debate Arcee. You still have five more opponents to defeat," he said, shooting a look at Jack.

Jack's head hung, and he stepped out of the circle, approaching the Prime. "Optimus," Arcee protested, "You won't find a better match than that, I can tell you right now," she said.

Optimus appeared very tense. "Continue your sparring," he ordered.

Arcee vented, frustrated, and five minutes later, the remaining five candidates lay on the floor, beaten by the femme. Arcee turned to Optimus with an expectant look on her faceplate.

Optimus had a blank expression on his faceplate when he spoke. "Report to your Jaeger in 1 hour; you'll meet your partner then," he said.

Before Arcee could protest the Prime turned and walked away, Fowler tailing him. Arcee looked to Jack, who looked at her briefly before turning and walking away himself towards his room. Arcee started after him. She wanted to figure out what was going on.

"Jack, wait up," she called as he walked towards his room. "I just want to talk," she said as she got closer."

"There's nothing to talk about," he mumbled. "Optimus made his decision; there's no point in arguing with him about it," he said, his tone sounded sad and defeated.

"You can't be the only one who felt that in the fight?" Arcee asked, and Jack turned his head to her as he stopped in front of his door. "We're compatible; it's obvious. Optimus isn't your superior; you don't have to follow his orders," she said.

"I don't follow his orders because he's my superior. I follow them out of respect," Jack said. Arcee put a confused look on her faceplates before Jack quickly entered his room and shut it. There was a click as he locked the door, and Arcee vented in frustration.

She turned back down the hall to head to her room, only to see Optimus standing there. "Optimus, you have to realize he's the most compatible," she said. Optimus said nothing, simply stood with his arms crossed behind his back.

"If you want this project to work to its fullest, you have to let us be partners. The kid's got fighting skills I've never seen before," Arcee said.

Optimus vented. "My decision is final Arcee. I made a promise concerning Jackson, and I intend to keep it," he said.

Arcee raised a brow. "Is that promise so important that it's worth putting this whole project at risk!?" she demanded angrily. Optimus was acting weird, and she couldn't figure out why.

What kind of promise could the Prime have made to make him risk such an important program?

"Return to your quarters Arcee," Optimus said. When she didn't budge, his optics narrowed. "That was an order," he growled.

Arcee narrowed her optics in kind and stormed off, slamming her quarter doors behind her. She placed a servo to her head and sighed. This whole scenario was ridiculous, but regardless, she had to listen to the Prime's orders. He was a Prime for a reason.

Arcee closed her eyes and feared who it would be that would be assigned as her partner…

_Jaeger Headquarters, San Diego, Barracks…_

Jack sat in his room with a hand on his head thinking over what he'd just done. He'd done a lot of stupid things over the past few years, but this took the cake. He should have known that Optimus wouldn't let him be a part of Project Synthesis. Now, odds are he'd have to wait even longer before he got his chance at piloting a Jaeger.

There was a click at the door, and he heard it creak open. He lifted his head to see Optimus squeeze himself through the doorway, and Jack smiled slightly. Even at human size, the Prime's dimensions were not, and his shoulders were too broad to fit through the narrow passageway of the door.

After squeezing through, the Prime moved to stand in front of Jack, who still sat on his bed. The two were silent for several seconds, neither one choosing to speak. Jack was upset, and Optimus wasn't sure what to say.

Optimus was the first to break the silence. "Jackson, I know that you are upset," he started, and Jack snorted.

"Don't get me started," he mumbled. He looked up to see a disapproving gaze from Optimus. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"But," Optimus continued. "I am only doing what is best to keep my promise," he said.

"I know Optimus. It's just…I want to fight, to protect others from what happened to me," he said, looking up at the Prime.

"I know that promise is important to you; it is to me too, but I'm not a child anymore," Jack said and saw the hesitation in his faceplate. "If anyone else was more compatible, I'd step down immediately, but you saw the fight. You won't find a better candidate," Jack said. He braced himself for being told that he was wrong in that regard.

A thoughtful look appeared on the Prime's face. "Maybe you are right," he said, and Jack looked at him with shock

Optimus sighed. He knew he'd regret this. "Perhaps it is time I stopped treating you like a child," Optimus said. "Head to the Conn-pod. Arcee shall be waiting," he said.

Jack felt his jaw drop and promptly closed it, a large grin on his face. "You mean..?" he asked.

Optimus nodded. "You are the new co-pilot for Blindside," he said.

Jack rushed up and hugged the Prime in a rare act of affection from him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said before realizing exactly what he'd done.

He let go and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'll get there right away," he said and took off, heading towards the Conn-pod. Despite how hard he tried, a large grin spread across his face…

_Jaeger Blindside Conn-Pod…_

Arcee stood in the Conn-Pod, waiting for her new partner to arrive. She was all prepped, prepared to drift for the first time in three years, and he was running late. Go figure.

She shook her head. It wasn't her place to judge. Odds were that the human was just having difficulty suiting up. She'd seen the suits and was amazed at the complexity of the suit and the fact that the frail humans could handle wearing such a suit without falling over. Apparently, they could though, and Arcee had to give them credit for that.

Arcee heard the door for the pod open. "'Bout time you showed up, been waiting here for the past 10 minutes wondering if you'd show," she said in annoyance.

"Sorry about that, got caught up in traffic," a familiar voice said, and Arcee turned to see Jack Darby smiling at her. He was dressed in all black armor, made of flexible carbon fiber plates covering his torso, shoulders, arms, and legs. His helmet was a large clear visor that covered his entire face with an oxygen tube attached to the side of his midsection.

Arcee looked at him suspiciously. "What happened to following Prime's orders?" she asked.

"Who said I was breaking orders? I got permission from the big man himself. Turns out he had a change of spark," Jack said as he took his position on the left side of the central terminal. He slipped his feet into the large metal slots and felt them clamp in place.

Arcee looked at her partner with a questioning look but decided to let it drop, asking a different question. "Ever drifted before?" she asked.

"Once, or twice," was Jack's response.

"Great," Arcee muttered before turning back to her new partner. "Just remember: don't focus on a single memory, let them flow into your mind at once. If you focus on one, you could get lost in it," she warned.

Jack nodded. "Got it, don't chase the rabbit," he said with a small smile.

Arcee just shook her head in jest before facing forward. "Initiating neural jack," the computer warned. The harness swung forward and connected, the jack going into the base of Arcee's head and connecting to the spinal clamp along Jacks back and connecting into the port at the base of his helmet.

Jack let out a small gasp as the device connected, and Arcee chuckled. "Don't worry kid; it gets easier the more you do it," she said comfortingly.

"Not sure I could get used to _that _anytime soon," he admitted. Arcee rolled her optics at the boy and reached for her arm control, Jack doing the same.

Now fully prepped, the computers voice sounded again. "Preparing drop in 3…2…"

"Might want to brace yourself," Arcee warned.

"What? Whyyyyyyy?!" Jack screamed as they suddenly dropped. From the outside, the "head" of the Jaeger dropped down the chute, sparks flying as the brakes applied themselves, and there was a loud thud as the head connected with the main body. Machinery and metal shifted and moved, connecting the two into one full being. Armor moved into place, connecting at stress points and creating a large collar that started at the base of the battle mask and traced all the way to the back, where it arched over the head.

Arcee laughed as Jack steadied himself. "It's not that funny," he muttered.

"I don't know kid, your face was pretty priceless," Arcee said with a laugh.

"Neural bridge in five…four…three…two…"

"Brace yourself," Arcee warned. She had a lot of memories, and she was unsure if Jack would be able to handle them, implant or not.

There was a slight hitch, and Jack gasped as Arcee's memories poured into his mind. Thousands of years worth of memory, and in an instant it was all passing through his mind into the implant. To Jack it felt like someone had flooded his mind with ice water, and he winced as the memories continued to pour in, never ending. He felt like he was about to faint from the exposure of memories, when, suddenly, the intake stopped.

He opened his eyes and looked around, feeling…older with all of her memories in his mind. He could now see and feel what Arcee saw and felt, felt completely connected as one unit.

"Well that was…short," Arcee said, having only received 18 years worth of memory, a miniscule amount of time for a Cybertronian.

"Excuse me for living," Jack quipped, and the two laughed in sync. That was going to take some getting used to.

_"Pilots," _Fowler said over the com. _"Begin initial test phase,"_

"Roger that sir," they responded.

The holographic interface activated on their arm control, and the two looked to each other, smiling. The two raised their arms in sync, slowly flexing and moving their respective arm. Outside, Blindside repeated the action slowly lifting its massive arms in front of its face. Motors whirred, and plating shifted as it flexed and rotated its arms.

It looked like a child examining itself for the first time. Inside the visor flickered to life, video screens becoming active, and the two saw the world through the Jaeger's eyes. They watched the fists moving in sync, the massive machinery operating perfectly. Jack clenched his fist and watched as it repeated the movement, the metal fingers hitting the plating with a resounding BOOM!

Jack laughed at this, happy as can be with the current situation. "Stay focused kid, we still got more system checks to run," she said.

Jack nodded and focused, his grin slowly fading as the two worked. They continued to move and flex the arms, running self diagnostics and finally making sure the turbine was up to speed as well. Satisfied that their Jaeger was functioning at full capacity, the two raised their arms in sync.

Then, in one fluid movement, Jack's half slammed his fist into Arcee's open palm, the two meeting together and colliding in a thunderous boom. The crowds that had assembled below let out a cheer as the Jaeger slammed its fist into the hand, a sign that the two were working in full sync.

"Bet your parents are real proud of you kid," Arcee said, and Jack smiled faintly when suddenly his eyes grew wide and his arms fell to his side.

"Jack?" Arcee asked, and horror dawned in her optics. "Jack, it's just a memory, stay focused!" she yelled, but it was too late, Jack was dragged into a memory, Arcee with him…

_Somewhere in the drift…_

Arcee looked around in shock at where she was. This was San Francisco, but the city was still in ruin, left as a reminder of the Kaiju attack so the people wouldn't forget. Where she was shouldn't exist, the tall buildings, the golden gate bridge. It all should be rubble, not intact.

Jack must have gotten lost in a memory of the city. Arcee looked for signs of him, when she heard a familiar noise, and suddenly the scenery changed. The city now appeared hellish, smoke billowed into the sky, buildings lay in ruin, entire chunks of road way lay collapsed.

Arcee heard footsteps and turned to see a woman running in the streets, holding a small child roughly eight years old in her arms. She turned around and froze. Arcee followed her gaze and felt horror. The massive form of Trespasser, the first Kaiju ever to appear on Earth seemed to be tracking the woman, though odds were it was simply moving in her direction.

The woman turned back around and ran, clutching her child tighter. "Help! Someone please help!" she screamed. Arcee wanted to help, but this was just a memory. She couldn't do anything in it, couldn't help this woman.

Trespasser let out a thunderous roar that echoed through the city and seemed to pick up speed. Cars, buildings, and roads collapsed as it ran, seeming to be right on their tail. There was the sound of squealing tires, and Arcee turned to see a familiar red and blue semi truck pull in front of the woman.

"Get in!" Optimus ordered, opening his door. The woman hesitated for only a moment before jumping in the empty car. Optimus drove off with the woman as the Kaiju approached, and Arcee watched as the memory faded.

Suddenly, a burst of memories passed in front of Arcee, and she watched as events in Jack's life after this occurred. She watched as Optimus watched over the woman and her son, who was clearly Jack, watched as Optimus made time to make sure they were okay, and how the two grew to see Optimus as a friend and defender.

Then, it came to another Kaiju attack…in Jasper. Arcee shuddered as the massive Kaiju made its way to the small town, smashing mesas and cliff bluffs. It let out a thunderous roar that shattered glass, and Arcee watched as it smashed through an overhang as if it were tissue. It made its way into the city, and the memory flashed forward.

Suddenly, Arcee was in the ruins of Jasper, though she could hear the pained bellows of the Kaiju as the Cons attacked it. Arcee looked for a sign of Jack and saw her partner, in his child form, huddled by a piece of rubble. Arcee approached the child from behind, wondering why he was by the rubble, when she saw the figure lying underneath it.

His mother lay under the rubble, her form barely conscious, breathing shallow and each breath growing fainter by the second. Arcee looked at the boy, who had tears in his eyes and looked at the woman.

"Mommy, you're going to be okay, right?" he asked, tiny voice trembling.

A sad look passed the woman's fac.e "I-I'll be fine J-jack," she lied. Arcee could tell just from how she looked and talked that the woman was barely holding together. She wouldn't make it.

"A-and t-then O-optim-mus will protect us r-right?" he cried, having realized the same thing.

"H-he w-will sweetie, h-he always has," she said, her free arm caressing her son's cheek.

There was a crash of rubble, causing Arcee and the others to look towards the sound to see the Kaiju storming towards their general direction.

The woman's eyes widened in fear, and she grabbed her son's arm. "Listen Jack, you need to leave," she said, her voice regaining strength.

"No," Jack sobbed.

"Listen."

"No, no."

"Go, Optimus will protect you," she said.

"I don't want to lose you!" he cried. "Please, don't let me lose you too!" he sobbed, tears dripping off his small face.

"Jack, I will always be with you, but please go!" she ordered.

There was a loud boom, and the Kaiju suddenly fell over, landing with an enormous thud, as its large form crashed into the city. The entire ground shook as it landed, and entire chunks of buildings fell, Jack's mother crying out in pain as the rubble on her shifted into a worse position.

Arcee watched in horror as a piece of building fell towards Jack and his mother, when suddenly a red and blue mech intercepted the falling rubble, shielding the two with his body. The rubble deflected off his chassis onto the ground, kicking up dust and debris everywhere.

When it cleared, Arcee saw Optimus standing over the two, Jack crying and his mother looking at Optimus sadly. "O-Optimus… yo-you c-came," she said weakly, her life fading fast.

"I promised I would," the Prime said gently, before his face hardened. "June, I must get you and Jackson to a hospital," he said urgently.

June laughed weakly. "It's t-too late…f-for me, O-Optimus," she said weakly, her eyes starting to close.

"Just…just promise me…you'll care for Jack…raise him…raise him well," she said.

A sad look passed over Optimus's optics. "I will raise him as if he were my own," he said.

June smiled. "T-thank yo…" she never finished as the last of her life faded.

"MOMMY!" Jack screeched, crying over his mother's body. "Please wake up, please," he begged.

"D-don't leave me l-like…l-like," he never finished as he broke down into tears.

Optimus looked at the boy sadly and gently lifted him in a servo, cradling him against his chest plate. "It's okay Jack; it's okay," he said gently as the boy cried. "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you," he said, and the memory faded…

_Jaeger Blindside…_

Arcee gasped as the memory ended and turned to see Jack disconnected from the harness on his knees. His whole form was trembling, and she thought she could hear light sobs coming from him.

"Jack," Arcee said, trying to get his attention. Jack looked up at her, his face showing no sign of crying, simply sadness, before he stood up and left. He left the pod so quick, Arcee had no time to call out to him, only watch as he threw his helmet to the side as his head hung in shame.

Arcee disconnected herself from the harness and followed after him. "Jack!" she called, wanting some answers after what she just saw. The boy stopped only for a moment before continuing to the exit door.

"Jack, I want to talk," she said as she finally caught up with him.

"I screwed up, got lost in the drift," Jack said as the door cycled open.

"It happens to everyone Jack; you're not the first and you won't be the last," Arcee said, trying to comfort him.

Jack looked up at her, about to say something when a deep baritone voice interrupted him. "Both of you, my office…Now," Optimus said, his harsh order a stunning contrast to the gentleness she saw him capable of.

Several minutes later, the two stood in his office at attention, waiting for Optimus to reprimand them. Optimus paced in front of them for several seconds before finally stopping. "What happened?" he asked.

Jack sighed. "Optimus, I lost control, chased the rabbit, and as a result people nearly got hurt," he said, his eyes staring straight forward.

Optimus closed his optics. "Jack, I gave you permission to drift because I believed you could handle it," he said, and Jack's head tilted forward, his whole being emanating shame.

"That said, until further notice, you two are suspended from active duty," Optimus said.

Jack and Arcee looked at the Prime in shock. "Optimus, Jack may have lost it today, but given time he'll learn to drift as well as any other Ranger," Arcee said, using the term for a Jaeger pilot for the first time in years.

"My decision is final. You are dismissed," he said.

Jack's whole body drooped, and he nodded before leaving the office, heading to the mess hall. Arcee chose to stay and talk to Optimus.

"Optimus, I know what your relationship with Jack is, and you need to give him a chance. He's not the scared ten-year-old you rescued from Jasper," she said.

Optimus narrowed his optics. "I am aware of that Arcee. I have been aware for some time. I fear though that Jackson is not and still allows the loss of his parents to control his memories," Optimus said.

"Maybe it's because you've sheltered him for so long he hasn't had time to control them," Arcee countered. "I felt the emotions Jack felt when we drifted Optimus. I know he still blames himself for the death of his mother. He needs this to help him get over it," Arcee said.

Optimus narrowed his optics. "I don't need you to lecture me on what my adopted son does or does not need Arcee; you are dismissed," he said.

Arcee scowled before saluting and storming out of the office. She headed to the mess hall. She needed to talk with Jack and to refuel…

_Jaeger HQ, mess hall…_

Jack sat hunched over his simple meal, twirling his fork in the mush, lost in thought and guilt over what happened. He'd lost control, allowed memories he thought he'd buried years ago to haunt him and nearly hurt someone because of it. Now his chance at being a Ranger was ruined; there was no way his father would let him in a Jaeger now.

And after that display, he wouldn't be surprised if Arcee wanted nothing to do with him either. While in the drift, Jack had sensed her need, her want to fight and avenge her fallen partner, Cliffjumper. He'd even felt Cliffjumper's fear when he died through her, a memory that clearly haunted her to this day.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "This seat taken?"

Jack looked up in shock to see Arcee standing in front of him with a small cube of energon in her hand. "N-no, not at all," he said.

The femme smirked and sat in front of him, holding the energon cube like a cup of coffee with both servos. The two were silent, Arcee watching the boy, who looked down at his food without eating it, just trying to avoid eye contact.

Arcee sighed. "You know, pretending to eat your food is a rude way to avoid conversation," she said.

Jack dropped the fork and looked at her. "What do you want to talk about? How I'm traumatically scarred by the death of my parents, that I'm too dangerous to be a Jaeger pilot, or that I'll never be able to prevent that from happening to another child?" he asked, angry over his own reaction, not angry at the femme.

Arcee ignored his anger. "How about explaining why you never bothered to mention you were the adopted son of Optimus?" she asked.

Jack groaned. "I didn't tell you because he's bad enough. The last thing I need is for people to get overprotective of me because I have a Prime for a dad," he said. "Besides, I figured you'd find out in the drift," he said casually.

"Right, well, I did, and all I can say is that I feel denied critical need to know information," Arcee said.

"How so?" Jack asked.

Arcee shrugged. "Simple, if I'd known you were Prime's kid I'd have tried even harder to kick your aft," she said with a smile.

"Yeah right," Jack said dismissively. "You were not going easy on me," he said.

Arcee raised a brow. "Want a bet?" she asked.

An obnoxious voice interrupted Jack's response. "Darby! Good to see you again,"

Jack groaned. "Great, it's Vince," he grumbled.

Arcee remembered seeing bits of the redhead in Jacks memories, and she was not looking forward to meeting the Jaeger pilot. "Hey Darby, how's it going?" Vince asked, sitting next to Jack with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Go away Vince," Jack growled, not in the mood for dealing with his scrap today.

"Aw, what's the matter buddy? I was just checking to make sure you were okay after your little panic attack today," he said in mock concern.

"After all," he continued. "If I was paired with a has been Autobot pilot, I'd have a panic attack too," he said smugly.

Arcee gripped the cube hard, and Jack clenched his fists. "Excuse me!?" Arcee demanded.

"Oh sorry, didn't notice you there," he said sarcastically.

"You have some nerve kid," Arcee growled.

Vince smiled innocently, "Sorry honey, if you're trying to be threatening, maybe you should try and kill a Kaiju without losing your partner first," he said.

Arcee scowled at the bully, about ready to tear his head off when an idea entered her processor. "Alright tough stuff, how about you and I go toe to toe in the ring," she suggested, and she noticed Vince grow noticeably paler. "I mean, I am a has been, so what are you afraid of?" she asked.

"You're on!" Vince yelled. Jack and Arcee smiled. The next few minutes were going to be fun…

**A/N: BOOM! Cliffhanger number 5! I am evil! So, rise of hands, how many people actually saw this coming? Seriously, let me know, I need to know. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and remember to review with critique or PM me with plot based ideas or questions. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 4: Blindside

Chapter 4: Blindside

_Jaeger HQ, sparring room…_

Arcee stood across from Vince in the sparring room, servos raised and ready to fight. When she had asked the bully what weapon he wanted to use, his choice had been hand to hand. Clearly, Vince believed that if Arcee didn't have her blades that he had an advantage over her.

Arcee smirked. If this human thought that using hand to hand was a disadvantage for her, he was going to learn the hard way how wrong he was. Arcee had thousands of years' worth of combat experience from the war, with or without her blades. Combat experience, she realized, that Jack now possessed as well.

Regardless, Arcee had obliged him and kept her blades retracted. Along with that, she'd removed her knee guards and spiked crest to prevent herself from accidently hurting Vince.

She wanted to teach the boy a lesson, not leave his blood on the floor. Vince was wearing the same thing Jack had when he sparred with her, a grey tank top and sweat pants. Difference was that Vince was more bulky than Jack was. While Jack was lean and evenly toned, Vince had muscles bulging and appeared to almost be overwhelmed by the number of muscles.

Arcee already knew several ways she could use this to her advantage, keeping her pose light and relaxed. Vince seemed to adopt the pose of a brawler, someone who would do what it took to win, a pose that Bumblebee preferred to use as he lacked any melee weapons.

Vince struck with a light jab, and Arcee dodged it with ease and followed with a light punch of her own to Vince's midsection. He scowled as Arcee smirked at him, and the two continued. Vince struck with a sudden flurry of punches that Arcee easily evaded.

She put on an innocent grin as Vince glared at her, "What's the matter hotshot? Thought you could handle an old has been," she taunted. Vince let out a cry as he charged her, and Arcee twisted out of the way, avoiding his charge.

It seemed the bully hadn't considered the possibility that Arcee might be toying with him. He growled as he turned to face the femme and tried kicking her, only for Arcee to grab his leg. With a twist, she flipped Vince on his back, pulled his leg back, and placed her own knee on his back.

"You know Vince, it must be pretty humiliating getting your aft handed to you by a has been," she mocked, and Vince growled at her.

Arcee got off him, and he quickly got to his feet. "Rematch!" he demanded.

Arcee rolled her optics. "Whatever you say Vinny," she said with a smirk.

Vince scowled and charged at her, fist raised. It was obvious that Vince had a bit of a temper problem and that he was no longer focusing on strategizing. Arcee smirked and grabbed Vince's fist, twisting it to the side until the Ranger fell to his knees and let out a pained growl. Arcee finished him off with a swift backhand that knocked him to the mat.

"Sure showed him" Jack said as Arcee exited the mat and began putting her armor back into place.

"What can I say? Jerks like him need to be taught a lesson from time to time," she admitted. The two laughed, neither noticing Vince standing up angrily.

The bully grabbed one of the weapons from the rack, a long staff made of hardened wood. He made his way to Arcee, who was still re-equipping the last of her armor, and raised it over his head, aiming to hit her over the head with it.

Jack had different plans and delivered a swift roundhouse to his stomach. Vince dropped the staff, and Jack grabbed it midair, twirling it until he smacked Vince across the face with it. Vince whipped back, and Jack turned around, swinging the staff up behind him in the fork of his legs.

Vince promptly grabbed hold of his groin and fell to the ground with tears in his eyes. Arcee and Jack looked at him, unimpressed, as he lay there cradling his nether regions.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to do that," Jack said.

"I've been in your head. I had an idea," Arcee said, inciting a laugh from the two again.

Vince glared at the two as he shakily stood to his legs. "Y-you're d-dead Darby," he squeaked, his voice several octaves higher than it should have been.

Jack opened his mouth to respond when a different voice interrupted him. "Vincent, what the hell are you doing!?" a stern voice demanded.

Jack and Arcee turned to see Vince's partner, his father Vergil, standing at the entrance to the sparring room. He was a tall man, roughly 6 feet tall, with grey red hair and a 5 O'clock shadow. He wore army fatigues, had green eyes, and had a scar running down his left eye.

"I, uh, was just sparring with these two," he said, avoiding eye contact with his father.

"Bullshit, you were sparring, more like getting your ass kicked and then trying to attack someone when you'd already lost," he scolded as he walked forward. "Damn it boy, when are you going to start thinking before you act?" he asked angrily.

Vince never got a chance to respond as his dad turned to Arcee and Jack. "I'm terribly sorry that my son was being such a jackass. The boy hasn't learned how to act around people," he apologized. "Glad to see someone cut his pride down for once," he said, glaring at his son.

Vince looked away angrily, and his father scowled. "You ought to apologize, boy, for what you tried to pull," he ordered.

"Me!?" Vince said in shock.

"Yes, you apologize." he ordered.

"I am not apologizing to some has been and a pilot who chases the rabbit," he said defiantly.

His defiance lasted exactly 2.5 seconds before Vergil slapped him upside the head. "Ow!" he yelled. "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head in pain.

"Show some respect boy. Arcee has more combat experience than you and I combined, not to mention she's lost a partner through drift. The fact that she is able to come back to the program at all is a sign of how strong she is. As for Jackson, cut him some slack he was drifting with a Cybertronian, that's a lot of memories to take in at once. It's no wonder he chased the rabbit," his father lectured.

Vince scowled and stormed off, and his father sighed. "That boy is the biggest pain in the ass I've ever known," he said and turned to the pair. "Sorry if he gave you any trouble. He tries again, let me know, and I'll set him straight," he said.

Jack nodded. "Thanks Vergil," he said, and the man nodded before walking off.

Arcee turned to Jack. "Well, that was an interesting turn of events," she said.

"True," Jack said before an idea occurred to him. He reached into a weapon rack and pulled out two swords and eyed Arcee. "How about a little sparring practice?" he suggested.

Arcee smiled. "Sure, I could use someone to kick around," she joked.

Jack smiled and struck a fighting stance in the ring. "We'll see about that," he said, and the two went at it…

_Jaeger HQ, control room..._

Fowler and Optimus stood in the control room, monitoring any sign of Kaiju activity. The next predicted attack was incoming, and they were waiting to see if they would attack somewhere along the western coast line.

"I'm just saying Optimus, maybe we should give them another chance," Fowler argued. The two had been talking about this all day since Arcee and Jack had been dismissed, with neither one backing down.

"While I appreciate the council, Agent Fowler, my decision is final, and as the overseer of Project Synthesis, Jackson and Arcee need more time before they can be allowed to drift in a Jaeger," Optimus responded.

Fowler sighed. "Optimus, the kid's never going to learn to handle himself if you keep sheltering him like this," he said.

Optimus didn't respond. Fowler was about to argue his case further, when an alarm rang out.

"What is it?" Fowler asked.

"Sir, it's a Kaiju, Category Four, approaching Los Angeles," Vic reported. "ETA, 30 minutes,"

"Great, just great," Fowler said. "Prep the Jaegers, I want Striker, Hammer-fist, and Claymore on patrol up there," he said.

Vic nodded and grabbed a mike, "Jaeger strike teams Striker, Hammer-fist, and Claymore, report to your Conn-pods. We have a Category Four Kaiju approaching L.A. I repeat, report to your Conn-Pods now."

The entire control room became a flurry of activity as they prepared for the launching of the Jaeger teams. These three teams in particular were veteran teams, all with at least three Kaiju kills under their belts.

As it was, they were some of the last Jaegers left in the San Diego HQ, and they were the only ones in functional capability. All other available Jaegers were either being retrofitted or repaired. Regardless, the teams were quickly outfitted and repaired as people began flooding into the control room to watch the battle unfold.

Jack and Arcee were two such people, who stood near the front of the crowd, watching in eager anticipation, hoping these three would be enough to handle the Category Four…

_Los Angeles…_

Rain poured from the sky along the coast of L.A. It seemed as though the world itself was trying to conduct a proper atmosphere for the fight that was soon to occur. The city of L.A. itself twinkled in the night, its lights cutting through the dark and lighting up the night sky.

The citizens of the city had begun their mass relocation once word of the Kaiju threat reached them. Those on the outer limits of the city evacuated, driving to another, safer location or to relatives in hopes of waiting out the coming monster. Those poor souls left in the crowded metropolitan area that was L.A. were not so lucky.

Once word reached them over the Emergency Broadcast System that there was an incoming Kaiju, panic would be a nice way of describing the situation. People streamed through the streets in fear, making their way to anyplace where they could possibly be safe. The panic could be felt in the air, and any poor soul unfortunate enough to trip was trampled underfoot.

The only sign of organization and peace was found in the Kaiju shelters, buildings designed to hide people from the Kaiju underground. They were essentially long brick tunnels with a large steel door in front, and that was it. Kaiju attacks rarely lasted long; they more often than not lasted at most a full day, so the shelters lacked any long term necessities.

But along the coast, the thrumming of chopper blades could be heard as a fleet of helicopters made their way to the city. A group of roughly 24 helicopters made their way to the coast line, every 8 choppers holding up the large form of a human Jaeger. Each Jaeger was held with high tension steel cables able to support the weight of the Jaeger.

The choppers stopped over the water, and with a loud twang, the Jaegers fell into the ocean below. Waves shot up as the massive metal men landed in the water, and their systems activated. Lights turned on, and metal plating shifted and moved, protecting more sensitive areas on the Jaeger.

The first of the Jaegers to fully activate, was Striker, a Mark Three human class Jaeger. Like most human Jaegers, Striker stood roughly 20 stories high and was a fast Jaeger. It was piloted by the father-son duo of Vince and Vergil, who employed a fast brawler fighting style. Its whole body resembled that of a boxer, tall and lean.

Its visor was completely horizontal, and its head was flat and slightly angled. It had an all black paint job, with flames licking up the arms and across the mid section. Its visor was, of course, a golden orange color, and scratches on the shoulder armor represented the number of Kaiju kills it had achieved. There were six scratches on the armor.

Striker immediately got moving, patrolling the coast as Hammer-Fist activated. Hammer-Fist was a Mark Two human class Jaeger and was modeled after the armor and weapon design of the famous Russian Jaeger, Cherno-Alpha. Its fists were massive in size, made of a heavy titanium alloy and laced with ion knuckles to further their damage. The fists could also shift into larger hammers to crush the head of a Kaiju with ease.

It was a large, heavily built Jaeger with a massive upper body that made up most of its height and short legs that supported it, but weren't able to make it move fast. Its head was sunk deep below its shoulders, making the massive Jaeger appear even more hulking in appearance.

Its paint job consisted of a standard military green, with the square fragmented visor being golden orange. Hammer-Fist was operated by the Canadian team of Jason and James Avery, twin brothers who took down two Category Two Kaiju. Their overall fighting style involved getting close to the Kaiju and pounding it into oblivion with their massive fists.

Hammer-Fist went off in the opposite direction for its patrol while Claymore activated. Claymore's appearance could best be described as a medieval Knight with swords for hands. It was designed to kill a Kaiju as quickly and efficiently as possible, and was a Mark Four human class Jaeger. It was the tallest of the three and had a battle mask that sealed over the visor to protect it from battle damage.

It was a silvery grey color all over and was piloted by the UK team of Scott Keegan, and Shamus McKinley. Those two had defended London from a category three Kaiju attack and took part in an assault against the breach in which only they and two other Jaegers survived.

Claymore shifted to life and patrolled forward, sonar searching for the Kaiju. "This is Claymore, we see nothing," they reported.

"No sign of the Kaiju yet," Striker agreed.

"How does a Category Four hide from three Jaegers?" Hammer-Fist asked, scanning the waters. As if in answer, the ocean surged upwards, and the large form of the Kaiju shot forwards, towards Hammer-Fist, screeching as it did.

The Jaeger barely avoided the attack and sidestepped the Kaiju as it landed and turned to face its opponent. The creature was huge, over thirty stories tall, covered in pale gray flesh. It looked almost like a bipedal Snapping turtle, with a large plated shell on its back, and massive head. It had three sickly blue eyes on either side of its head, and its mouth, while lacking teeth, was sharpened to look like a massive spiked clamp.

Its arms and legs were long and thick, its hands having three claws on each one. Blue saliva dripped from its mouth; in fact its whole mouth was glowing blue. It had two feelers on either side of its head, and it seemed to have more at random parts of its body. Where its shell met its back were four pulsing bags of flesh, two on either side. What purpose they served no one knew, but it added to the grotesque appearance.

The creature screeched at the smaller Jaeger, arms spread as it did, and the screech echoed across the ocean. "Uh, guys," Hammer-Fist said as it prepped itself for a fight. "We could use some back up," they said warily.

"On our way," the other Jaegers responded and ran towards the Kaiju, who engaged Hammer-Fist. It lashed out with its large clamp-like head, trying to take a bit out of them, but Hammer held the mouth back as it snapped at it. Hammer quickly activated its flamethrowers, spraying fire into the Kaiju's mouth.

It screamed in pain and stumbled back, allowing it to get surrounded by Claymore and Striker. The creature quickly recovered and roared a challenge to the three, the very Earth shaking from the roar. The three Jaegers engaged the Kaiju in what was sure to be a brutal battle.

Striker began grabbing and punching at the Kaiju's sides, being an overall nuisance, while Claymore cut into the area under the fleshy bags, causing blood to pour from the wounds. Hammer got up close and activated its ion knuckles, pounding the Kaiju's head, each punch the equivalent of a thunder strike.

Claymore's blade slashed through the fleshy bag, and the Kaiju screeched as blood gushed from the wound. It was here that the purpose of the bags was revealed. Something moved on either side inside the bags, and the Jaegers backed up, minus Hammer-Fist, who continued to pummel the monster.

With a sudden surge, the bags on its side exploded outwards, sending the remaining gore flying either onto the Jaegers or into the ocean below. From the bloody remains of the bags, four lean and heavily muscled arms shot out, each one armed with three claws. Each arm was a darker shade of grey, thinner than the base arms, and was covered in slime that was quickly melting off the arms.

"Uh command, we have a problem," Striker reported. "The Kaiju just grew an extra four arms,"

_"I'm sorry; do you want to repeat that?"_ Fowler asked.

Striker grunted as the two arms on its left side lashed out towards it, and the Jaeger dodged the blows. "You heard us! The Kaiju just grew an extra four arms!" they yelled.

_"Any other sign of weaponry or adaptations?"_ Optimus asked.

"None that we can see," Claymore responded.

_"Then take that beast down!" _Fowler ordered.

The Jaeger pilots nodded and resumed their assault on the creature. It was at this time that Striker delivered a three punch combo to the shoulders of the Kaiju before the two arms grabbed hold of its own arms. On the other side, Claymore was restrained the same way, and the Kaiju grabbed Hammer-Fist's hands with its base arms.

The creature' mouth grew closer to Hammer's Conn-pod, the Jaeger pulling away as it did. Striker and Claymore pulled against the arms, straining back, their leg motors straining against the beasts ungodly strength.

Their combined efforts managed to hold the beast away from Hammer, at least long enough for them to think of something. Until the Kaiju revealed another secret weapon. Its maw opened wide, blue saliva dripping onto Hammer, and a _second mouth_ shot out and latched onto the Conn-pod.

There was a sickening crunch as it bit into the bits of machinery that connected the Conn-pod to the rest of the body, and, suddenly, the whole thing was torn off of Hammer. The head disappeared down the Kaiju's gullet, and Hammer fell slowly backwards.

There was a great splash as the now dead Jaeger crashed into the ocean, quickly submerging beneath the waves. The Kaiju let out a roar of victory while the two remaining teams looked at what happened in horror.

_"Striker team, what just happened? We lost Hammer-Fist's signal,"_ Fowler said.

"They're gone sir," Vergil responded. "The monster ate them, swallowed their Conn-pod whole!"

Fowler cursed. _"Do you think you guys can hold out?" _he asked.

"We ain't going down without a fight if that's what you mean sir," was Striker's response. That said, Striker surged forward and tackled the Kaiju in the side. The beast wasn't expecting such a maneuver and was blindsided, letting go of Claymore in the process.

Striker delivered a series of quick blows to the creature's midsection before it recovered and grabbed them with its own arms. The Kaiju lifted Striker and, with a mighty heave, flung it towards Claymore, who twisted out of the way of its flung comrade.

Claymore looked to Striker before turning to the Kaiju and sprinting forward, its long stride kicking up water and waves as it ran. The Kaiju welcomed the challenge, and its arms spread out, awaiting it's challenger.

Claymore stabbed out with its right arm, aiming to pierce the midsection of the monster, when its arm grabbed that arm. It twisted the bladed arm to the right, causing the metal and motors to screech in protest. Claymore, in an act of desperation, swept at the Kaiju's arm with its other bladed hand.

The blade buried itself into the arm, but its skin and bone were too thick in that area for the blade to cut all the way through. The monster screamed at the pain, and several of its arms grabbed hold of its chest. With a heave and the sound of tearing metal, the Kaiju tore Claymore to pieces, holding only the torso and head now in its clawed right arm.

The beast brought the torso and head to its face and growled at the remains of the one that had caused it the most pain. It opened its maw, and once more the second mouth shot out, ripping the head off Claymore and devouring it whole.

"Shit!" Vince yelled. "Command, we just lost Claymore," he reported.

The com was silent for several moments. _"Understood. You're on your own Striker. We have no more battle ready Jaegers left," _ Fowler told them. "_You are the last line of defense for Los Angeles…Good luck." _The com went dead.

Vergil looked to his son. "You ready for this?" he asked.

"Let's bring the pain," was his response.

The Kaiju roared at the two as they ran towards it, sprinting through the rain and water as waves pounded against their legs. Striker leapt into the air, thrusters propelling it forward, and collided with the Kaiju's head, twisting it to the side and slamming it into the ocean.

The Jaeger quickly got up and activated a pair of spiked knuckles on its hands and proceeded to pound the ever loving scrap out of the monster. They delivered an uppercut, followed by a right hook, then a straight punch to the midsection of the giant monster.

The creature growled and grabbed both fists, slowly crushing them in its grip. The arms on its back grabbed onto the sides of the Jaeger and slowly applied pressure, claws ripping into the steel armor. There was a loud snap, and their Jaeger went dead, and the beast let go.

Striker's arms fell to its sides as the Kaiju let go and began circling them. "What's wrong? What did it do to the Jaeger?" Vince asked in a panic.

"Severed the spinal connection at the base of the Conn-Pod. We're cut off from controlling the rest of the Jaeger," Vergil said, examining the terminals that still functioned.

"We have to get out of here! Without control, that thing is going to tear us apart," Vince said as he and his father disconnected from their harnesses.

Vergil approached one of the inner compartments in the Conn-Pod, ignoring his son. "Are you even listening? That things going to kill us!" he screamed.

Vergil spun around and slapped Vince. Hard. Vince looked back at his dad in shock. "Get a hold of yourself boy. If the Kaiju was interested in finishing us off, it would have done it by now," he said.

Vergil handed Vince a flare gun. "It's obviously going after the city once it's done taunting us, so we have two choices: either we wait it out, or we take these flare guns and do something _really_ stupid," he said.

Vince looked at the gun in his hand and back at Vergil before nodding. Smiling, Vergil grabbed the ladder leading to the Jaeger's hatch and climbed out of the Conn-Pod. It was still pouring rain, and the Kaiju was circling them, as if waiting for them to strike.

Vergil stood with his son on top of their Jaeger's head, and the Kaiju stopped to glare at the two. "Hey you big, ugly son of a bitch!" Vergil screamed. "Down here!"

The Kaiju approached the Jaeger and glared at the two with one side of its face, both eyes glaring at them. Raising their flares, both men fired the gun. There was a screaming sound as the flashing red flare shot towards the Kaiju, and both flares exploded against the Kaiju's eyes. The Kaiju let out an earth shattering screech as its eyes were burned by the hot phosphorous flares and stumbled back, clawing at its eyes.

"Okay, we got its attention," Vince said, looking to his father. "Now what?" he asked.

"Funny thing, I didn't really think past this part," Vergil admitted. The Kaiju looked at the two and roared loudly, preparing to charge them, when the sound of choppers filled the air, stopping the creature dead in its tracks…

_Jaeger HQ, control room, San Diego…_

Everyone watched the screens in horror as Claymore was torn apart and eaten by the Kaiju, now labeled Spider Shell due to its eight-legged, turtle-like appearance. To have seen a Kaiju do that so easily to a newly designed Jaeger…It was horrifying.

_"Shit!"_ Vince yelled over the com_. "Command, we just lost Claymore,"_ he reported.

Fowler was silent for several moments before speaking. "Understood. You're on your own Striker. We have no more battle ready Jaegers left," Fowler told them. "You are the last line of defense for Los Angeles….Good luck." And the room fell silent.

Jack and Arcee glanced at each other before turning their gazes to the screen to watch the battle in horrified tension. At first, it seemed Striker might be able to hold, might damage the Kaiju enough that it died from its wounds. Then it grabbed hold of them, and they knew the end was near.

"Report to Blindside immediately," A voice ordered, and the two turned to Optimus in shock.

"Sir?" Arcee asked.

"My previous order has been resigned. Head to Blindside now; that city is at risk," he said, a serious look in his optics.

The two nodded and took off down the hall, sprinting to their Jaeger. Arcee went inside the Conn-Pod, while Jack suited up, fitting the plating into place. The neural pack was placed on his back, and the helmet slid onto his head. There was a hiss as the suit sealed itself, and Jack entered the Conn-Pod, fully geared.

He took his position to Arcee's right and smiled. "You ready?" he asked as the harness swung into place and jacked them in.

Arcee smirked. "Kid, I was made ready," she said. The neural link began, and the familiar rush of memories and sensory info entered the two as the Conn-Pod connected with the rest of Blindside's body.

Scaffolding and equipment moved out of the way as the large hangar doors opened to a platform. The two looked to each other and smiled. Working in sync, they took their first step in a Jaeger together, and the massive machine responded.

The large leg shifted and moved forward, creating a loud boom as it connected with the hangar floor. They took their next step, and Blindside did as well, creating another thunderous boom. Each step caused the armor plating to shift and move, like the skin and tissue of a living creature as it moved.

Blindside stepped into the pouring rain, the water pouring of its shining form in showers. A fleet of choppers hovered overhead, lowering themselves to slightly above the Jaeger's shoulders. A team of men emerged from each copter and attached the cables they were trailing to specific holds in the armor designed for this.

The whole process was completed in under three minutes, and the choppers lifted up. There was a slight hitch as the metal cables tightened before slowly, ever so slowly, Blindside began lifting off the ground. Inch by inch, foot by foot, its feet lifted off the ground.

The massive, 300 foot tall Jaeger was lifted into the air by a fleet of ten choppers, something no Cybertronian chopper could accomplish. The choppers quickly flew to L.A., speeding through the rain and wind, trying to get there in time to save Striker or, failing that, save the city.

While they flew through the wind and rain, Arcee and Jack exchanged thoughts, discussing plans and ideas as they flew. All of this was done through the drift, neither one actually speaking. This was for two reasons. One was that the drift allowed thoughts to move faster. The second reason was to help Jack acclimate to the drift, learn to use it, not let it use him.

But in no time at all, the Jaeger reached the coast of L.A. to see the Kaiju circling Striker's now limp body. It appeared to almost be taunting the Jaeger and would make quick rushes at it or roar at it in anger.

"That is a big Kaiju," Jack commented.

"Luckily, we're just as big," Arcee said with a smile.

Two bright lights shot out from Striker's head and struck Spider-shell in the face. Jack quickly realized the two had shot flares at the monster's face, probably making it angrier.

"Give Vince and Vergil some credit; they're made of tough stuff if they were willing to shoot flares at a Kaiju," Jack said, and Arcee nodded in agreement.

The helicopters finally made it in range and hovered in place, the Jaeger's feet just above the water. There was a snap as the lines cut loose, and Blindside landed in the water, pushing up miniature tidal waves as its legs bent to absorb the impact.

Slowly, the Jaeger stood, standing to its full 330 foot tall height, standing as tall as the Kaiju. The Kaiju roared a challenge at the two and slammed its extra arms into the water.

Arcee and Jack just stood in place and slammed their fist into their open palm. They cracked their necks in sync. This….was going to be fun…

**A/N: CLIFFHANGER! Oh man, you guys must HATE me for this. I mean really, this is like, what? The fifth one in a row? I wouldn't be lying if I said that ending here was a guilty pleasure, but all I ask is that you guys don't spam the reviews with how angry you are at the cliffhanger without constructive criticism. If you want to yell at me about that, PM me instead. Anyway, remember to review with critique, or PM me with plot based questions or ideas. Bye!**


	6. Chapter 5: Category 4

Chapter 5: Category 4

_Jaeger HQ, San Diego…_

Optimus watched the screen in eager anticipation. He'd just sent his adopted son and one of his soldiers into combat against a Kaiju that had destroyed two veteran Jaeger's and crippled the third one. They had no training together, they would get destroyed.

Unless, that is, they could reach full compatibility. Jack would have knowledge of all of Arcee's skills and vice versa. But if they couldn't achieve full synchronization… His son would die, and he would be forced to watch.

He heard a cough and turned to see the teen genius Rafael "Rafael, what can I do for you?" he asked, barely hiding his worry.

"Optimus, Jack and Arcee will be fine. I've looked at the results from when they initiated their last Drift… They are closer now than ever before, near perfect synchronization," he said.

"I…thank you Rafael," he said quietly.

The teen smiled "Any time Optimus," he said. the two returned their attention to the screen, as Blindside made contact with the ocean…

_L.A. Coast…_

Rain poured down on the city of L.A. blanketing it in a never ending shower of water. Water poured of buildings, cars, and just about everything else, and soaking anyone unfortunate to be outside. Of course the rain wasn't the main problem for the citizens of the large city.

The problem they had to fear, was the massive 30 story high monster that planned on flattening their city the moment it removed a single obstacle in its path. Said obstacle, was Blindside, the first ever Jaeger team using both a human and a Cybertronian to drift. This was the first combat outing of the duo Arcee and Jack Darby, and they were ready for the fight of their lives.

The two titans stared each other down, neither one making a move. The massive six armed Kaiju growled at the Jaeger across from it, but besides that, remained still. The Jaeger pilots struck a fighting pose, one leg stretched back the other forward, but beyond that remained still.

Rain poured of both of the giant beings, cascading of their massive hides of flesh and steel. Blindside was analyzing its opponent for any sign of weakness they could take advantage of, any disadvantages at all.

Their analyzing was interrupted, as the Kaiju let out another Earth-shaking screech and barreled towards them, kicking up massive waves of water as it did. Instead of standing still, Blindside took off, sprinting towards the Kaiju, aiming to meet the massive abomination head on.

There was a loud crash and meaty boom, as two titans, one of metal, one of flesh, collided into each other and began to grapple. Blindside hands slammed into the beasts own, and they locked in a power struggle, neither one gaining ground. The extra arms spread out and readied themselves to attack them from behind.

They noticed this and heaved with all their might. The Kaiju let out a screech of surprise as the two actually _lifted_ it out of the water and flung it overhead. There was a great splash as the turtle like monster crashed into the water, kicking up waves everywhere.

Before it could get up, the two grabbed it by its tail and began twisting and turning, dragging it through the water. They picked up more and more speed until the Kaiju itself began to lift out of the water from the speed. Then with one last heave, they tossed the monster through the air.

It screamed in fury as it sailed through the air and crashed once again into the water, sliding through the liquid. Quick as a flash, it was back on its feet, and it was angry. It let out an angry roar and charged at Blindside in a rage.

Blindside tried dodging out of the way, but the Kaiju slammed into the edge of their midsection. The two grunted as its arms wrapped around them in a multi limbed bear hug, and proceeded to crush the life out of them. The two were wrapped in the hug over its shoulder area arms pinned to their side.

An idea sprang into Arcee's mind "Activating the turbine," she said. Jack looked at her confused before he caught on to her plan, and activated it as well.

Outside, the spinning orange turbine at the center of Blindsides chest began to spin, slowly moving faster and faster. With a sudden burst of energy, a vortex of searing whit hot fire, shot from the turbine and incinerated one of the creatures arms. It screamed in agony as it lost one of its limbs, and lifted the pair overhead.

It turned to the city, and proceeded to launch them towards the city. The pair twisted in the air, trying to turn right side up. They crashed through an overpass before they could, and tumbled across a street, their arms crashing through buildings, knocking dust, debris, and chunks of building everywhere.

The two eventually managed to twist to their feet and began skidding to a halt. They slammed their fists through the concrete, carving miniature canyons into the ground, before finally stopping. The two lurched as they stopped, and let out a breathe they hadn't realized they'd been holding.

The Kaiju climbed onto land, roaring a challenge at the two, its arms spread back as it howled. The two stood up and charged forwards, their feet leaving deep gouges in the asphalt. Their footfalls boomed across the ground as they charged, and the Kaiju mirrored their action.

There was a great clash as the two titans collided, sending shockwaves of rain flying. The two locked into a wrestling match with the Kaiju, holding back the giant beast. They slowly began pushing it back when it used its extra arms to grab hold of their shoulders.

It pulled them away and shoved them back causing them to stumble back. The two twisted to face the creature as it backhanded them with its extra arms, slamming them into a building. Glass and debris shattered as they crashed into the building sinking back into the structure.

The Kaiju grabbed hold of them and shoved them backwards, pushing them through the building. The skyscraper groaned in protest as they were shoved through the building and collapsed on the other side. The Kaiju shoved its way through as well and screeched at them as the structure fell in on itself.

The two stood up in time to receive a gash across the chest followed by the remaining extra arm on its left side gripping their Conn-Pod. The pair let grunted as their metal shrieked in protest under the pressure the Kaiju was putting on their pod.

Arcee started to lose herself as she flashed back to Cliffjumper's own death in a similar way "Arcee!" Jack screamed as he realized she was losing herself.

The femme looked to him, optics wide in fear "We are _not _going to die not here not now!" he yelled. Arcee shook herself and nodded. She and Jack grabbed hold of the claw gripping their helm and slowly pried the claws loose.

It was slow going fighting against it, made more difficult when the Kaiju tackled them to the ground, using its other arms to restrain Arcee's arm. The two were fighting a losing battle, they were outmatched by this Kaiju.

Jack suddenly looked to Arcee "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

Arcee smiled "I'm in your head," she said and the two reached forward and tapped a button on their respective terminals.

There was a sound of shifting metal on the forearms of the Jaeger as it began to change. On both arms, two long blades swung outwards and forwards creating a blade shaped with no middle. Electricity arched between the two blades on each arm as they became super heated.

These were new prototype blades more powerful and efficient than even Claymores blades. Each blade was superheated to over 1,000 degrees Kelvin capable of cutting through the thickest of Kaiju bones and hide.

Jack let out a war cry as he released the arm gripping their helm and with a swing, sliced through the arm. The wound was instantly cauterized as the creature reared back screeching in pain from the sudden loss of its limb.

It still held the two, and lifted them up as it reared in pain. Using this to the their advantage, Arcee and Jack shot forward, head butting the massive monster in its gut causing it to double over. Arcee broke her arm free of its grip and sliced across its stomach, cauterizing its insides.

The Kaiju screamed again and shoved the two back turning and fleeing into the city to by itself a moment of reprieve. Blindside stumbled back and landed on its aft, leaving a large crater and many flattened cars under its rump.

The two shook themselves as the Kaiju charged through various buildings getting away from them. They let out a tired sigh as they looked over the status reports of the Jaeger systems.

_"Blindside, what's your status?" _Optimus asked over the comm. his tone showing worry.

Jack activated the comm. "Where fine Optimus, minor structural damage to the chest region but so far no hull breaches," he looked forward again and noticed something worrisome. A long crack appeared in their visor. It started from Jacks side and traveled down to the center of the visor.

"Actually we have one problem, we have a cracked visor," he reported.

There was silence before _"Understood but that Kaiju cannot be allowed to run free," _Optimus stated though Jack knew he was fighting against every instinct to order him to return.

"We had no intentions of letting it sir," Arcee replied before ending the comm.

She looked to her partner "Ready to finish this?" she asked.

Jack smirked "Let's do it," he said.

In sync, the two deactivated their blades to conserve energy. They leaned forward. the various engines and motors groaning in minor protest as they did. They slowly got their feet under them, and with a low hiss, stood to their full 330 foot height, towering over the many remaining buildings in L.A.

They looked at the trail of destruction the Kaiju left, and slowly stepped forward, their massive feet causing resounding booms to echo through the city. Each step was slow and powerful as Blindside looked from side to side for any sign of the Kaiju.

They walked silent for several blocks searching for it, but the creature had just disappeared. Debris and destruction were left in its wake, but the trail was growing cold. They couldn't find it, and stopped, the heavy rain cascading off their light blue body.

"Command any visuals from the choppers, we can't see it and there's too much interference on the radar," Jack reported.

_"We got nothing Blindside," _Fowler responded.

"Great," Jack mumbled as the two continued to scan the area "How does something that big just vanish?" he asked.

"Maybe we're not looking in the right places," Arcee said, and pointed up.

Jack looked at her confused when several light pings echoed off the hull. It wasn't the soft pinging of the rain hitting their hull, it sounded more like debris. The two looked up to a sight they never would have expected to see.

The Kaiju had climbed up one of the taller buildings and screeched at the two as it leapt towards them, aiming to crush them under its weight. Arcee and Jack jumped back, activating several thrusters to speed the movement and stopped as the beast hit the ground.

There was an earth shattering crash as dust and debris flew everywhere and the Kaiju broke through the first level of the city. Its massive feet sunk into the lower sewer system and several smaller buildings started collapsing from the crash.

"Blades?" Jack asked.

"Too close quarters, they'd get in the way," Arcee replied.

Jack sighed "So we're doing this the old fashioned way," he said lifting his fists to fight.

Arcee nodded "Looks like we are," and adopted the same pose.

The Kaiju roared at them, small trickles of blood dripping from its maw. It tore itself out of the ground, causing more asphalt and concrete to collapse as well as a few more buildings. The large creature charged towards them, its remaining extra arms tucked against its shell.

Blindside pumped its legs forward and its massive foot falls booming like thunder through the streets. Their arms moved like pistons as they once again charged the monster, and with a sudden burst of rear thrusters, the two leapt high into the air. They brought their fist together behind their head as the leapt towards the Kaiju, and slammed them forward onto its head.

There was a painful crack as the creatures head snapped down and dug into the ground. Blindside grabbed its crest at the base of its skull and lifted it up, Jack pounding the creature repeatedly with his fist while Arcee held it in place.

Each punch was delivered with the force and strength of a cannon, causing the Kaiju to squeal in agony. After barraging the top of its head enough, Arcee lifted its head up for Jack to uppercut the beast causing it to stumble and spin into one of the buildings.

Glass and dust shot off from its impact before the creature steadied itself. It roared at the two, and went on the offensive. Its remaining arms shot out aiming to slash cut gouge or crush the Jaeger with their powerful clawed hands.

Blindside dodged or blocked the blows the best they could in the confined space, but they were taking damage. Small scratches or dents littered the Jaeger, they weren't going to hold out forever if they stayed on the defensive. They began looking for possible weaknesses in the monsters seemingly random attack pattern.

They got their chance when one of the extra arms got stuck in a building. The two took their chance and grabbed hold of the limb before pulling. They pulled the massive beast over onto its side causing it to crash hard.

The Kaiju tried scrambling free of their grip but the two slammed one of their feet onto its extra arm. They readjusted their grip on the limb and pulled on it hard. There was a sickening crack as bone began to shatter, then with one final heave they tore the entire limb off the monster.

Neon blue sprayed everywhere as the monster rolled onto its back screeching in agony. Blindside leapt onto the creature knocking the wind out of it. They reared back their left arm and prepared to activate their blades to finish this.

But they forgot about the remaining arm, and it grabbed their Conn-Pod. It heaved them off itself and the two rolled across the ground, their head slamming against a building, causing small amounts of debris to rain on themselves.

The two got up only for the Kaiju to slam them against said building. Once more glass and support beams shattered as they were pushed back. The Kaiju screeched at them and slammed a fist into their Conn-Pod.

The two let out pain grunts as their head snapped to the side and the cracks on the visor worsened spreading out like webs. The Kaiju roared at their face, saliva coating the visor.

Jack let out a disgusted gag before activating the plasma cannon. Their right arms shifted and reformed. The fingers peeled back, the palm shifting into a spire like object. Electricity arched from the fingers onto the spire as a shot charged.

A blue ball of superheated plasma launched forward and collided with the beasts midsection. It stumbled back, its midsection severely burned by the blast. Jack fired another shot at the creatures midsection and another.

The Kaiju lunged forward before he could get another shot off, and grabbed their shoulders with its main arms. Its remaining extra arm grabbed hold of their Conn-Pod and resumed crushing it like before.

Warnings began to blare as their head was slowly crushed in its grasp and the cockpit sparked. Arcee growled angrily and activated the blade on her arm. With a sudden lunge she stabbed it into the creatures opposite arm pit, causing it to release Jacks arm.

Jack gave her a thankful nod and aimed the plasma cannon up at the remaining extra arm. There was a slight charge from the cannon before the ball of plasma rocketed forward. The blast cut through the arm and destroyed its remaining extra arm and the Kaiju stumbled back as its arm fell off in two pieces.

The two broke free and kicked the monster further back into another building. It fell forward but before it could hit the ground Arcee delivered an uppercut, Jack a right hook, Arcee another jab, and finally the two balled their fists together and raised them above their head and slammed it down on the Kaiju's head.

There was a resounding boom as their fists connected and the Kaiju hit the ground with a smash. The street collapsed and dust flew everywhere as car alarms went off.

Blindside simply stood there, the two pilots panting from the hard fight. Their armor was covered in nasty gashes, one in particular stretching from the collar bone to the other side of their upper torso slightly slanted.

Their arms were covered in various gashes as well, dust and blood coating them. Their visor was heavily cracked from the battle and would need replacing. The helm had several deep puncture wounds that only barely kept from puncturing the hull.

The two turned around and began walking away "Central, Kaiju is dead," Jack reported with a sigh of relief.

"_Copy that, we'll send in a cleanup crew," _Fowler responded and the line cut out.

As the two walked away though, they heard the crumbling of debris and moaning "No way," Jack said "There is no fragging way," he cursed and the two turned around. The Kaiju stood back up, blood pouring from various wounds on its body. It various eyes glared at the two with pure hatred.

"What does it take to kill this thing!?" Jack demanded.

"Us," Arcee responded and the two resumed their fighting stance.

The Kaiju roared at them, its roar even angrier than before but this time it didn't charge. It turned to its side and slammed its clawed fists under a small ten story building. It proceeded to heave against the building and low crackling could be heard echoing through the area as it slowly tore the building off its foundation.

The two stepped back as the Kaiju turned to them, the building held high over its head. It sagged from the weight, but besides that looked like a pretty good battering ram.

"Ever seen a Kaiju do that!?" Jack asked.

"First time for everything!" Arcee responded right as the Kaiju threw the building at the two. They activated their blades and with a swift movement cut the building in two. Either side of the building went flying in opposite directions slamming into other buildings as they did.

The building was just a rouse though as Jack and Arcee painfully found out. The Kaiju charged into the two, slamming its shoulder into them. It continued to charge back until it slammed them into one of the few remaining skyscrapers in the city.

The Kaiju pinned their arms to their sides and began crushing them as its massive maw opened wide, blue saliva dripping from its serrated teeth. The two widened their eyes in horror as the second mouth shot out.

The two leaned back as far as they could only for the mouth to scrape against their visor, leaving deep gouges in it. It snapped and snarled at them but they were too far at the moment.

"I've had enough of this scrap!" Arcee snarled and activated their blades. Arcee activated their turbine again, a dangerous move given that it was meant for one time use. The searing hot flame caused the Kaiju to screech and loosen its grip before shutting off.

It was enough through, and the two broke free of the grip. Jacks hand grabbed hold of the second mouth and pulled it fully out of the Kaiju. Arcee raised her own arm blade high above, arch's of energy arching between the two blades.

"This is for Hammer-Fist!" They yelled in unison and brought the blade down, slicing through the second mouth. What remained of its second mouth snapped back into its jaw as the Kaiju stumbled back on the defensive.

Jack dropped the jaw and Blindside turned to regard its opponent, who was currently pawing at the injury in its mouth. It looked up at the two with hate filled eyes but never had time to get out a roar.

The two moved quickly and proceeded to finish off the massive being. It tried swiping at them with a claw, but they dodged underneath it. Jack stabbed through its shoulder, the blade poking through on the other side. Arcee wrapped the arm under her own and they pulled, the blade cleaving through the shoulder.

"For Claymore!" they yelled.

They spun around and crossed their blades at the massive beasts neck "For my Mother," Jack whispered.

With a single slice, they cleaved through its neck. Its massive head fell to the ground landing with a boom. The rest of the body stood standing as well before finally falling on its back. The two disengaged their blades and stood back up.

"I think this guy is dead," Arcee said "But let's check for a pulse," she finished. Jack smiled at her and activated the plasma cannon.

Jack pointed it at the Kaiju and let loose several balls of super heated plasma, blowing the corpse apart "No pulse," he deadpanned.

"Arcee to base, the Kaiju is dead, I repeat, the Kaiju is dead," she commed.

The two heard cheers over the radio before Optimus answered "_Good work Blindside, we will send in a cleanup crew. Return to base for repairs and rest," _he ordered.

"Yes sir," Jack replied with a sigh of relief. He turned to Arcee "Not bad for a first outing huh?" he quipped.

Arcee rolled her optics as the two walked off "Eh for a first date it wasn't half bad," she quipped, and the two chuckled as they made their way back to base…

_Jaeger HQ San Diego…_

Jack let out a welcomed sigh of relief as the last of his drive suit was removed. As important as it was for operating a Jaeger, that didn't make it exactly comfortable. He rolled his shoulders as he stepped out of the room to see his partner standing there, a smile on her lips.

"Well glad to see you're finally done," she said with a small chuckle.

"Hey don't blame me, the zipper was stuck," he quipped.

"Right," Arcee responded as the two walked to the door. They walked with a comfortable silence between the two. Their time in the drift had made them essentially one being, there were no secrets no awkward thoughts. They both had a feeling for what the other was thinking.

"So what happens now?" Jack asked.

Arcee looked to him confused while the door cycled open "What do you mean?" she asked.

"What do we do until the next Kaiju attack?" he asked clarifying his question.

"Train eat and wait," was her response "We can't do much else until the breach is closed," she explained.

Jack nodded, several attempts to close the breach had been made over the years since it opened. Every single time it ended in failure, either because the Kaiju defended it and launched their own attack or because the bomb was rejected by the portal for some reason.

Jack was about to say something else when the door opened and a loud symphony of cheers caught them off guard. The two looked to see hundreds of people, workers trainers, and even other Jaeger pilots cheering.

They were all congratulating the two for saving the city from the category four and for being the first successful drifting team of human and Cybertronian. The two slowly made their way to the main control room as people continued to congratulate them. Some even invited them to dinners and parties for what they'd done, which the pair respectfully

As the two made their way to the room a voice called out to them "Darby!" Jack and Arcee froze and turned towards the voices. The crowd slowly parted and they saw the duo of Vergil and Vince standing side by side across from the two.

The pair walked to them and the whole base fell silent. No one moved or breathed to loudly. Everyone knew that Vince was a hothead who took pleasure in bullying the Primes adopted son when he was alone.

Vince glared at Jack for several seconds before he stuck his hand out "You did good out there Darby," he said.

Jack looked at the hand in shock unsure of what to do "Well you gonna stand there and gawk?" Vergil asked "It took me a good half hour to convince the stubborn ass to come out and do this," he stated seriously.

Jack shook himself and took Vince's hand "Thanks Vince," he said.

"Maybe next time we'll see each other out in the field kicking Kaiju aft together," Vince said.

"Maybe," Jack said.

Vince looked briefly at Arcee and just nodded respectfully before he and Vergil disappeared into the sea of people. The two looked at each other slightly perplexed. Today was just an odd day.

They finally made their way to the control room where Optimus and Fowler stood waiting for them arms behind their backs. Jack and Arcee came to a stop and saluted the two commanders.

"At ease," Optimus said his deep baritone voice rumbling over the crowd "I wanted to congratulate you two on a job well done," he said.

He looked to Arcee "Arcee, I hereby fully restore your Ranger status. You are a fully fledged Jaeger pilot once more," he said.

Arcee smiled and saluted "Thank you sir," she said the joy in her voice obvious.

Optimus looked at Jack who stood ramrod straight "Jackson, it is with great honor that I promote you as the first Ranger to pair with a Cybertronian partner," he said.

"Thank you sir," he said with a salute. His heart was racing at about a thousand miles an hour right now and he felt like he was about to faint.

Optimus looked over the crowd "And it is with great pride that I declare Project Synthesis a success!" he declared. The crowd collapsed into cheers again as people began congratulating each other.

Fowler cleared his throat and got the attention of everyone "I don't mean to put a damper on everyone's spirits, but we lost two good Jaeger teams out there today," he pointed out. The cheerful mood died instantly.

"We have to work double time to repair all the Jaegers in base and to put Project Synthesis into full overdrive," he said, everyone looked at him in understanding.

"Will what are you all still doing here, get to work!" he ordered and the crowd dispersed, leaving only Arcee and Jack.

"You two," Fowler said

"Sir," they replied in perfect unison.

"Go to your quarters, get some rest. After a fight like that you'll need it," he said.

Jack and Arcee saluted and walked off, leaving Optimus and Fowler alone. Optimus watched his adopted son leave before Fowler coughed into his hand.

Optimus turned to the Commander "Told you he'd make a good pilot," Fowler said.

Optimus turned his gaze back on Jack and Arcee as they walked down the hall, the two talking and laughing as they did "You were right Fowler, Jackson has proven his strength as a pilot…He may in time also strengthen the bond between our people even further," Optimus said cryptically.

Fowler looked at the Prime confused but dropped the subject. Whatever Prime was predicting, he would see it come to fruition sooner or later. In the mean time, the two had a _lot_ of paper work to fill out. Project Synthesis wasn't going to get off the ground on its own.

_Jaeger HQ San Diego, the barracks…_

Arcee and Jack walked side by side down the hall towards their quarters, both feeling the exhaustion from the fight starting to overtake them. Jacks adrenaline was wearing off and Arcee, lacking any form of adrenaline, was just tired.

Regardless the two were walking comfortably with each other, the awkwardness they'd shared when they first met gone "So exactly what was it like being raised by Optimus?" Arcee asked as they walked.

Jack looked to her confused, "What do you mean? You've been in my head, you know what it's like," he pointed out.

"True," Arcee started "But seeing the memory is different than having someone describe it to you," she pointed out.

"I… I guess you have a point," he said looking forward.

"So, what was it like?" she asked again.

Jack seemed to grow more thoughtful for several minutes before he finally responded "It was… different. He always did what he believed was best for me, best education, best training, all of it. He taught me well, but that's it he was more of a teacher and guardian than a parent," Jack admitted.

He saw Arcee's confused look and explained "I know Optimus cares for me and would die for me like a parent but I couldn't exactly go to him for parental advice," Jack explained "I know he's wise but I don't think his wisdom extends to how to talk to girls or various other awkward human phases," Jack explained.

Apparently the idea of Optimus having the "talk" was funny to Arcee and she chuckled earning a sigh from Jack "Still, could have been worse, if he hadn't adopted me I probably never would have become a Jaeger pilot or met you," Jack said.

"Well aren't you the smooth operator," Arcee said as they stopped in front of her room.

"And a gentlemen too, walking a femme to her room," Arcee teased.

Jack rolled his eyes "Night Arcee," he said.

What happened next shocked him. Arcee leaned in and placed a small kiss on his lips "Night Jack," she said pulling away and walked into her room leaving the stunned human standing in the middle of the hall.

He just stood there staring at the floor trying to remember his name when he shook himself and walked into his own room. He had no idea what that was about, but suddenly things around base got a lot more interesting…

**A/N:…So, who saw this coming so soon? Show of hands, put your hand down Prodigal, you don't count. So yeah the reasoning behind this will be explained in the following chapter. Anyway, please review with critique or PM me with questions or ideas.****Bye!**


	7. Chapter 6: Complications

Chapter 6: Complications

_Jaeger HQ San Diego, The Barracks…_

Jack lay on his berth staring up at the ceiling running a finger over his lips as he remembered what had just happened outside. He appeared calm at the moment, but his mind was racing trying to figure out what had just happened. Well no, he knew what happened, Arcee had kissed him!

He'd looked through all the memories and feelings he'd received from her over the drift over and over. Try as he might, there were simply too many for him to handle, and he couldn't find any details explaining _why. _He wasn't exactly upset that Arcee had kissed him, far from it. He would be lying if he didn't admit that he'd developed some feelings for her.

But a relationship with her would be difficult at best and impossible at worst. They were two different species and she was ages older than him. True she acted like she was in her early twenties, but Jack had no idea how old she really was. Not to mention that she would far out live him.

And then there was the matter of physical differences. Arcee was a Cybertronian and from the… talks… that Jack had been forced to endure from Ratchet, he knew that Cybertronian biology and human biology were far from compatible. Far as Jack knew, a relationship between a bot and human was unheard of, who knew what everyone else would think if they found out they may or may not be together.

Jack shook his head, there was no reason to be freaking out. There had to be a reasonable explanation for what Arcee did. He chuckled to himself as he realized he'd just overreacted and that Arcee probably didn't know what a kiss meant to humans. He'd clarify it to her tomorrow in the mess hall.

He rolled over on his bed and pulled the sheets over himself. It wouldn't be the most pleasant chat, but he had to explain the consequences of the kiss to her. Otherwise it would simply make things awkward between them. He yawned as he started to drift off. Tomorrow, he'd explain it to her tomorrow…

_Mess Hall…_

The mess hall was nearly empty as Jack sat at a table and began poking at the mush that somehow qualified as food. Jack understood why since San Diego had lost a good chunk of its imports over the years due to various Kaiju attacks, that most of the food had to be rationed. Still, if there was one thing he was jealous of with the Autobots, it was the fact that they never had to worry about eating the mush he was eating.

He twirled his fork lightly in the mush, his mind wandering about what he would say to Arcee. He hadn't seen her since last night, and he wasn't sure how to explain what kissing meant to humans. He had a few ideas of what to say, he just hoped he had enough time…

"Morning Jack," Arcee said as she walked around him and sat down in front of him, an Energon cube held casually in her servo.

The memory of last night flashed through his mind and Jack felt his throat tighten and a faint blush from on his cheeks. He averted his gaze from Arcee and looked back down at the food on his tray. He managed to mumble out a greeting to her but besides that said nothing.

Arcee raised an optic ridge, "You feeling all right Jack?" she asked with a hint of concern.

Jack looked back up at her and gulped nervously, "I…I'm fine Arcee," he said quietly.

He steeled himself and decided to broach the subject that had been occupying his thoughts since last night, "Arcee," he started, "About last night…"

She tilted her head to the side, "What about it?"

"Well before you went in your quarters you… kissed me," he pointed out.

Arcee smiled faintly as he mentioned it, "And your point?" she asked.

"Well Arcee.. I don't know if it's the same for you guys but for humans kissing is normally only a thing that people with feelings for each other do," he felt his throat go dry and took a nervous drink of water.

"Jack of course I knew that, why do you think I kissed you last night?" she replied innocently.

Jack spewed water to the side and began hacking and coughing hard at the femmes answer, lightly punching himself in the chest to clear his lungs. All the while his mind was racing. She knew! She knew what kissing meant for humans, she had feelings for him!

Once he cleared his lungs he took in a deep breath and looked up at Arcee, "You… want to run that by me again?" he asked trying to determine if he was hearing things or not.

Arcee smiled faintly, "I kissed you last night because I do have feelings for you Jack. You helped me get back in the fight gave me a challenge that no one else has. You think the same thing, right?" Jack felt all the blood rushing to his face at Arcee's praise and question, his mind rushing at a thousand words a minute.

And then he noticed that her servo was resting on his hand, and instinct took over. He pulled his hand out of her grip and stumbled out of the bench, "I… ugh… I have to go," he said hurriedly and rushed out of the mess hall, leaving a very confused Arcee behind.

He mentally slapped himself as he wandered through the halls, why had he run off like that!? Arcee just admitted feelings for him! He shook his head, it had to be a fluke, she was just grateful to be back in the field, that had to be it. No way that that beautiful…

Jack froze in the middle of the hall catching his thoughts. 'Different races Darby, remember?' he thought to himself. It would never work even if he did return her feelings. But right now he needed to be alone to have some time to think to himself.

He started forward again roaming through the halls lost in thought once more. He was so lost that he didn't notice the figure whose face was buried into his laptop walking straight towards him. The following collision caused both to stumble back and readjust themselves. Jack straightened his clothes out and looked up to see the local boy genius Raf who was picking his laptop off the floor.

"Oh, Raf!" he exclaimed and knelt down picking up some of the notes the boy had dropped, "Sorry about that I was a little… distracted," Jack handed the boy his papers and helped him up.

"It's fine Jack, actually I was looking for you," the boy told him.

Jack blinked in surprise, "Why?"

Raf shrugged, "Optimus told me to find you and Arcee, wanted to talk to you both in his office," he told him casually.

Jack gulped nervously, "I…" at that moment he heard Arcee walking down the hall looking for him, "I'll talk to you later, bye!" and he rushed off. Raf watched him leave as Arcee turned the corner, a puzzled look on his face.

"Raf, you seen Jack?" Arcee asked walking up to him.

"Yeah, just went down the hall," he pointed in the direction of the fleeing young adult, "Oh and Optimus wanted to talk to you both," he informed her.

Arcee nodded, "Thanks, I'll get Jack and take him to Prime," she walked off in Jack's direction, a determined look on her faceplate.

Raf watched her go before shaking his head and looking back at his computer, "Weird,"

_Jaeger Hanger…_

Jack sat on the edge of a platform overlooking the hangar looking at Blindside. The Jaeger was currently in the midst of receiving its final repairs, the mechanic's shifting the metal plating into place. He could see some of them cleaning the Kaiju blood off the paint and replacing the shattered visor as well. In a matter of hours, the Jaeger would be combat ready.

Jack was barely focused on the Jaeger though, his mind still going over all this odd situation he was in. Arcee had to simply be thankful, she couldn't possibly have actual feelings for him! Could she? After all, the two had shared their memories, their minds. It only made sense that if they were compatible that they might develop interest in each other.

Jack frowned at the thought. Arcee and him may have similar personalities, but did that mean they were right for each other? Heck, they weren't even the same race. That was his main problem, Arcee was Cybertronian, he was human. How would the others react if they knew they were together? Jack knew he wouldn't be able to handle the stares, it was bad enough when people knew he was adopted by Optimus.

Arcee didn't deserve someone like that, someone who couldn't handle a few stares. At least that's how it was in his mind, "Enjoying the view?" Arcee asked.

Jack practically leapt out of his skin in surprise, causing the femme to chuckle, "Arcee! What… what are you doing out here?" Jack asked, subtly inching away.

She smiled, "I'll tell you if you tell me why you're trying to sneak away," she replied with a smirk.

Jack froze, imitating a deer caught in the headlights, "I…ugh…" he couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse and slumped his shoulders.

Arcee raised an optic ridge, "Jack, are you sure you're alright? You've been acting strange all day,"

Jack looked up at her, "Arcee, are you sure you actually have feelings for me?" he asked.

Arcee sat next to him and looked at him concern, "What do you mean?"

"Do you actually want to… be together?" he clarified.

Arcee chuckled, "Of course I do Jack, why wouldn't I?"

An unsure look passed over his face, "How do you know it's not just because I'm the reason you're back in the field, that it's not just you being grateful?" he asked.

Arcee chuckled again, "Jack, I'm not some youngling still learning what my emotions mean. I know what I feel," she rested a servo on his shoulders, "And I know that I feel for you,"

Jack blinked in surprise, "I… I mean…. really?" he asked, a slight hint of hopefulness in his voice, "You're sure?"

The femme smiled and leaned in kissing him lightly on the lips. She pulled away and saw Jacks stunned expression, "That answer your question?"

He nodded weakly, some form of acknowledgement emanating from his throat, "But, if you don't want to, I'm fine with that," she added standing up and about to walk off.

Jack shook himself of his stupor as she started leaving, "No!" he called.

The femme turned back to look at him as he got up and approached her, "I-I have feelings for you too Arcee… But," Arcee raised an optic ridge and he quickly explained, "there haven't been any human Cybertronian couples before. I don't know if I could handle the stares, I have enough to worry about being Optimus's son," he admitted.

Arcee smirked, "No one has to know about us yet Jack. If you want, we can do this in secret until you're ready," she told him.

Jack looked at her surprised, "You're sure?" he asked.

Arcee smiled, "Yes Jack, I am,"

He returned her smile, "Thanks Arcee, I appreciate it," he told her.

The femme nodded, "Now come on, your old man wanted to talk to us," she grinned.

Jack gulped nervously, "O-okay then… lets go," Arcee smirked at his sudden nervousness and the two walked off together, a slight ease between them.

Arcee was perfectly fine with how the situation that was occurring, but Jack had some nervousness. He had no idea what Optimus wanted to talk about, and feared it would have to do with their now official secret relationship. Jack was afraid that his adopted father might break the two apart out of concern and worry for Jack or Arcee. Thin was, Jack wasn't sure he'd listen if he did.

The two walked into Optimus's office seeing the Prime sitting at his desk. He looked up at the two and smiled faintly, "Please, sit," he motioned to two chairs set up at the front of his desk.

The two sat down, Arcee calm and collected, Jack nervous and rigid. If Optimus noticed this difference, he chose not to comment on it, "I wanted to congratulate you two on your service to Project Synthesis once again," he started.

Jack gulped nervously, fearing the inevitable, "That said, I want you to pack your bags," Jack felt his heart stop and his eyes widen. Optimus was going to break them apart, he knew it!

Jack was about to start making a fuss when the Prime continued, "And report to your Jaeger, you're being transferred to Sydney per High Commands orders,"

Neither of them were expecting that.

"Wait, why Optimus?" Arcee asked just as caught off guard as Jack.

"They believe that the next Kaiju attack will take place their in two weeks. San Diego is to become a training ground for new entries into Project Synthesis while you two are transferred between the remaining bases wherever you're needed," Optimus's optics landed briefly on Jack with a hint of sadness before the emotion disappeared and he looked forward once more.

Jack felt his heart sink at this news as well. He'd lived most of his life in San Diego with Optimus after the Kaiju attack that destroyed Jasper. To leave now felt like he was abandoning his home. It wasn't as bad as being confronted about him and Arcee, but it still tore him up knowing he had to go.

Optimus saw the looks on their faces and cleared his throat, "You are to report to your Jaeger in one hour. Dismissed," the two stood and saluted Jack walking out quickly and stiffly Arcee close behind.

"Arcee," Optimus called softly as she reached the door.

She turned to look at him, "Sir?"

Optimus looked at her, "I know of your relationship with Jackson. Treat him well, he has lost to much to be treated otherwise,"

The femme nodded, "Of course sir," she saluted and walked off tailing Jack.

"What did he want?" Jack asked.

Arcee looked at her partner and inwardly debated whether or not she should tell him about what Optimus said. In the end, she decided against it, "He simply wished me luck with my new partner and to make sure he didn't do anything stupid," she lied.

Jack snorted, "Gee, good to know he has so much faith in me," he joked.

Arcee smiled innocently as the two walked to their respective quarters and began packing their items away. Arcee had very few personal items, but was able to fit them into her subspace with ease. Jack on the other hand, spent a good twenty minutes gathering clothes, shoes, and personal items. He stopped as he held a picture of him and his mother in his hands, one of the few remnants he had of her.

He ran a finger over the picture, "If only you could see me now," a sad smile graced his lips, "Your son, dating a Cybertronian and fighting Kaiju. What would you say?" he asked the picture, not expecting a response.

"She'd probably say you're a handsome young man and the femme your dating is as good as they come," Arcee replied from the doorway.

"Arcee!" he shouted in embarrassment, instinctively hiding the picture, "How long were you there?" he asked suspiciously.

"Long enough," she said as she stood straight and walked forward, servo extended, "May I?"

Jack looked from her to the picture in his hand hesitantly before finally handing it to her, "Just… be careful, it's all I have left," he told her.

The femme nodded and examined the picture. There wasn't much to it, just Jack and his mother posing in front of a house for some reason. The woman had her arms wrapped around her little boy in a hug, and both seemed happy. Happier than Arcee had ever seen Jack since meeting him. She'd seen him smile before, but this was an innocent happiness. One that she'd probably never get to see.

She handed the photo back to Jack, "It's a very nice picture. I'm sure your mother would be proud of you if she could see you now," she told him.

He looked at the picture and a faint smile crossed his face, "Thanks Cee," he whispered.

"Anytime partner," she looked at the bag on his berth, "Ready to go?" she asked.

He nodded and picked up his bag, slipping the photo into his pocket. The two exited the room and Jack stopped for a moment, glancing back into his room. This had been his home for 6 years, the place where his new life had started. And now… he was leaving it behind. All that he'd done, all the friends he'd made the memories, would be left behind.

He wasn't sure if he was ready for that though. Was he? Would he be able to handle this change? He looked down at the last step leading into and out of his room. One more step and he'd leave it behind forever.

"Jack," he looked to see Arcee waiting patiently, "You coming or not?" she asked.

He smiled and nodded, stepping off the last step. Maybe he was leaving his old life behind, but he had a new life to look forward to. He walked up next to Arcee and the two walked the halls to their Jaeger…

**A/N: I am SO sorry that this chapter is so short! I just couldn't get inspired to write it! I promise that later updates will be better. But in the meantime, my focus will return to New Threats, since as I've stated before, it's my main story and I enjoy writing it. So if you want to see more of my stories, check that one out. But regardless, please Review, let me know what you thought of this filler chapter. Or PM me, I'm fine with either. Anyway, Bye! Oh and Elhini, sorry about Melee, my fault he's asking. I'd tell you but I ran out of PM's. Bye!**


End file.
